Thursday, 11 November, 2021
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Neighbourhood centre celebrates milestone
Locals feeling housing pain
Mad Hatter’s party full of fun
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Planning concerns put on the table
Banking on local festival
Town planning meetings were held in Stanthorpe and Killarney on 3 and 4 November, highlighting concerns in the community. Housing, business and tourism, and heritage, culture and character were the three issues Stanthorpe locals had the most to say on. The housing crisis has been at the forefront of local conversation lately, with locals at the Stanthorpe meeting stating that locals already here need to be looked after and their housing prioritised over anyone wanting to move to the region. Full story - Page 3
In an exciting development for the Apple and Grape Festival, Queensland Country Bank has come on board as a gold sponsor. Queensland Country Bank, in their first-ever time sponsoring the festival, will be sponsoring the three-day Food & Wine Fiesta in Weeroona Park. Read more on page 6
Being ignored Leyburn locals at the recent Connecting with Council meeting stated that the community feels disconnected and unrepresented by Southern Downs Regional Council. Locals detailed multiple issues they had that needed addressing. The takeaway was that they felt their voice was being ignored. Focus on Leyburn – Page 22
‘Grow our events’ event was a “resounding success” attended by 549 people, some locals have questioned why SDRC is not more heavily supporting existing events. However, the problem may lie with the funding itself. SDRC applied for the funding with outlines
of the events, with the idea for Granite Belt Beat, Bites and Bounce coming from the Youth Council. “That’s what we applied for, so that’s what we delivered,” said the Council spokesperson. The Community Investments Stream of the Building Better Regions Fund (BBRF) “funds
community development activities including, but not limited to, new or expanded local events, strategic regional plans, leadership and capability building activities”. Round four of the funding targeted droughtaffected communities. Full story – Page 3
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Locals have questioned why Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC) is spending money on their own, free, events rather than encouraging existing events to grow. Over the weekend, SDRC held their Granite Belt Beat, Bites and Bounce event. While a Council spokesperson stated the
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