Thursday, 1 April, 2021
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What’s in the diary
Your weekly TV guide
Gardening with Beatrice
PAGE 15
PAGES 19-22
PAGE 33
Community fights closure
Rainfall a welcome farm boost
A small community near Warwick has banded together to fight the proposed closure of part of TV Repeater Road. In a petition letter addressed to Southern Downs Regional Council, more than 20 Bony Mountain residents and other TV Repeater Road users expressed concerns about the impact the potential closure would have on travel time and costs, as well as on the response time of any Emergency Services required by the community. Full story page 8
Last week’s widespread rainfall across the Southern Downs means an extra boost for the region’s farming community. While it’s still too wet in places to get the tractor out and down the paddock, things are looking positive for the planting of winter crops like oats over the coming weeks, with produce suppliers like Olsens in Warwick gearing up for a busy time of it. Rain wrap-up, pages 4-6
Latest on overpass Work is progressing on the construction of a new overpass at the Eight Mile intersection of the Cunningham and New England Highways north of Warwick, after getting underway in February - and due for completion in February 2022. Transport and Main Roads has committed to keeping locals up to date on the status of the $25 million project. Meanwhile TMR says it is “investigating” the condition of the cliff face above the highway at Cunninghams Gap after last week’s rain, with continued instability of the slopes. More on page 10
Local rail revival By Jess Baker US-based transportation giant Watco has seen significant growth since commencing operations in Warwick in 2019, in turn boosting the local economy. Queensland manager Kelvin Hutchinson
said the new maintenance hub has created 10 jobs directly and supported countless others indirectly. “The diversity of our business is phenomenal,” he said. “Our repairs, maintenance, oil, painting of carriages, and stickers are all done locally.
“We’ve got a fleet of cars we bought here and get serviced locally and we have so many people staying here in motels and spending money in town … the knock-on effect is incredible.” Mr Hutchinson said Watco has a big startup obligation and is not trying to expand too
quickly. Its focus is simple: to provide safe and reliable solutions for its clients. Remaining consistent might be all Watco has to do to see continued growth and success, considering many major businesses are already turning from road to rail to reduce costs. Full story page 3
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