Nagambie to get $2 million upgrade
When will the penny drop? If we don't follow suit and upgrade Bright's CBD we'll just lose more & more tourists to competing towns closer to Melbourne - like Nagambie.
Obviously the Alpine council is just not trying to get funds for Bright
I found this interesting little report on ABC Online about how the Goulburn Valley town of Nagambie is to get a facelift funded by the Victorian Government, who have announced just over $2 million towards the cost of the revitalisation project.
It’s interesting because the point of the project is to enhance Nagambie’s tourist appeal, which it will soon have in droves once the GV highway bypass removes the heavy traffic from its attractive main street that overlooks the lake. It got me wondering why the Alpine council hasn’t asked the Government for similar assistance for Bright:
Parks will be improved and a network of paths and boardwalks will be built to connect the town to a lakeside residential development.
The chief excecutive officer of the Strathbogie council, Kevin Hannigan, says by improving amenities, it will also help to attract more tourists.
“Toilet blocks, barbecues, boardwalks over the water and actually more importantly, connecting the township to the Lockland development,” he said.
“It’s great because when you come into Nagambie you actually run into Buckley Park and Jacobsons Outlook and they’re very popular spots where you get that beautiful views over the water and now you have some lovely walks.”
Comment:
I think I said it all in the caption under the photo.
There is just NO EXCUSE for the Alpine council not to make an effort to obtain substantial funding for the much needed Bright Future Project, including the revitalisation of the CBD, the Clock Tower area, general streetscape works, parks & gardens.
The money is out there and all they have to do is ask. But I guess they think an indoor pool is a bigger priority!
Promoting 'Beautiful Bright'.
Click 
How big is Ngambie? I have never been there, let alone heard of it. What tourist attractions do they currently have that bright does not?
It’s not big, population probably a bit smaller than Bright. It’s on the Goulburn Valley Highway between the Hume Fwy & Shepparton. It’s only 122 kms to Melbourne. The GV Hwy is all but freeway too and when they finish the bypass it’ll allow Nagambie to redevelop its CBD main street, which presently is very busy with traffic & trucks.
As for attractions, look to the left in the photo. The Nagambie Lake is a huge attraction and there are already a few up-market tourist businesses there. There are also a lot of wineries in the area including the hugely popular Mitchellton. The Strathbogie Ranges are not far away and they are magnificent.
I think Nagambie is about to take off – and they’re getting a makeover, unlike Bright. Stiff competition and a lot closer to Melbourne! Anyway, here is the tourist association’s website (note they only charge $50 for a listing unlike our lot!! :
http://www.nagambielakestourism.com.au/
According to the 2006 census, Nagambie’s population is 1,920 – about two-thirds the size of Bright. The lake is very large and is/was an important centre for training rowers.
This is why we need to upgrade Bright, Noel. Other towns are catching on and are realising that makeovers of the town play a key role. We are so far away from our market that we don’t seem to understand that we need to keep improving ourselves if we want to just retain the numbers we get, let alone increase them.
How about revisting the Bright Lake that was to be built behind the current sports centre. I have seen the old plans for the lake and it looked fantastic.
How about just improving the CBD first, Andrew?
The problem here is that we seem to misunderstand that we already have enough natural attractions but what we sadly lack is the tourist infrastructure like modern streetscapes, better & wider and more attractive footpaths in the CBD, more pedestrian connectivity, more seating and public space areas in the CBD.
And then we’ve got that ridiculous roundabout isolating the clock tower area. A dead space in the middle of town.
You see, it’s in the CBD that vistors spend their money and the more attractive & tourist friendly you make it the more they come in, the longer they stay, the more often they come back, etc.
A lake is an added attraction but it diverts people away from the shops and therefore it wouldn’t take priority over the CBD makeover in my opinion.
Wouldn’t be able to do a lake, Andrew, under the same rules which prevent dams (and GNE would dearly love NOT to have the weir at Centenary Park).
What you need to access this kind of funding is a town plan, with plenty of evidence of community consultation and backed by council. Bright doesn’t have one – the original BF plan was never formally accepted by council and (Ray will correct me if I’m wrong, as I occasionally am) the current one is still in the consultation stage.
Until the town plan is finished, put out for community comment and then signed off by council, then there’s not much hope of accessing this kind of funding.
Well Zuvele, you did actually adopt the Bright Future Project “in principle” in 2003. It’s never been formally adopted (how many times did I ask you to do that?) but it is now, in effect, an official Master Plan by default. Even VCAT has confirmed that – refer Coles decision.
And the Framework committee has advised council that it is still a relevant document. So it IS “a town plan” and we could use it to apply for funds. It’s more complete than Nagambie’s plans, I’ll bet you that for sure!
As for further community comment, that’s been done too. There’s nothing stopping the council from applying for funds under the BFP except its own will. In fact we DID apply and receive about $500,000 way back in 2003 for Wills Street – remember that?
Ray, I post here to try and give some background on some of council’s decisions. If you don’t want me to do that, fine. If you do, try and tone down your responses a bit – you constantly sound as if you’re attacking me, and that’s boring.
So, yes, of course I know we didn’t adopt it. Of course I know that VCAT understood we used it as a guideline in decision making. Of course I know that we used it to justify applications. But – also of course – I know more about the way governments allocate funds and what they like to see in back up documentation than you do or you ever will.
Occasionally you could respect my expertise, if nothing else.
Zuvele, don’t worry about grizzle guts, he aint happy if he’s not attacking someone or something. I find your comments interesting and always worth reading so please keep contributing.
Ray BTW keep on attacking !!!
Zuvele the document has been used to apply for Govt funds in the past – twice. But if you believe Bright doesn’t have a bona fide “town plan” that would stand up to Govt scrutiny then how do you as a councillor for 9 years justify council’s failure to develop one?
(Sorry if you think that’s “attacking” you, but your response begs that question)
John, anything to add on the issue? What do you think of Zuvele’s claim that the BFP is not a “town plan”?
It has a different status to the kind of document I was referring to – you know this, or you wouldn’t have kept on asking us to pass the original!
I don’t. I’ve always been an advocate for town plans, and was the initiator of the 2020 Vision for that reason. However, there wasn’t anyone, other than yourself, advocating for one for Bright and the attitude always seemed to be we’d get around to it sometime. If the residents of a town and the councillors from that town don’t seem to want something, I don’t see why I should be jumping up and down about it.
You really can’t hold me responsible for every decision of council over the last 8 years, you know. I’d be the first to admit I wasn’t happy with all of them!
Well you’re absolutely right about the lack of community consensus on the importance of the Bright Future Project, Zuvele.
Please don’t take this as an “attack” on you, it’s not. But I just believe that the project is so important that what it requires is leadership from the council to push ahead with it anyway.
The Bright community is very divided, as you know. That’s because its primary function and whole reason for existing is as a commercial tourist centre. Then you’ve got a community around that central function that in many quarters doesn’t want to see it grow and would like to “keep things as they are”. But, as you and I both know, that’s not only impractical, it’s economic suicide.
What we need is someone on council prepared to push the BFP through. Once its implemented the community will see the benefit of it.
Another problem, Ray, is the perception from the rest of the Shire that Bright gets everything.
I know it was very frustrating for me as a councillor – I remember once doing a speech at a major community organisation, listing all the initiatives the council was undertaking in their town, only to get the ‘Bright gets more than we do’ at the end.
This makes it very hard (as an individual councillor) to argue that Bright should get…well, anything, really…unless the community itself is agitating for it.
Councillors are also very reluctant to create conflict. For years now, virtually any proposal for development in Bright has met with community opposition (even at one of the ‘we want a pool’ meetings, attended by a couple of hundred people, it would have been impossible to work out what kind of pool they wanted), which included (as you know) quite extreme personal attacks on councillors.
If the Bright community wants projects to go ahead, it needs to speak with one voice, treat council as a partner not an enemy and be positive rather than negative.
On the ‘bright’ side, Myrtleford was much the same several years ago, with every council initiative automatically generating a negative reaction. Fortunately there was a gradual realisation that this wasn’t getting them anywhere.
Anyway, for the past few years, if a councillor (or council) put up an idea for the future of Bright, it automatically generated attacks from the Bright community and attacks from the rest of the Shire.
Why would anyone go there?
Zuvele,
The major problem at the moment is getting Council to do something or even come up with some sort of plan – as Ray as pointed out many times.
The other point is that not everyone is going to be pleased with the decisions made by communities and Council. The different towns will always want different things and resources are scarce.
What the communities of Myrtleford and Mt Beauty do not respect is that Bright is the tourist town for the Alpine Shire. Bright is the central hub were tourists stay year round and from this the towns can feed off from Bright. However, Myrtleford and Mt Beauty seem to believe that this competition exists in the Shire and why does Bright get everything – its simple – tourists come and stay here. They then travel to the other towns and Bright has the facilities to accomodate tourists.
Your right in your comment that people seem to work against the Shire – but, as in this post and in many others – Ray, has pointed out that the Shire staff are not competent in their jobs.
Why would anyone go there?
Well – in my opinion – because that’s what a council has to do. Make decisions, despite all the protests. Just like you did over Coles. Although, being a planning application, you had to make a decision on that one.
No disrespect meant, Zuvele, but I don’t recall anyone protesting the Bright Future Project, or anyone objecting to the initial works carried out in 2003 (roundabout at the Gavan St/Anderson St intersection) and 2005 (Wills Street, which was 2 years behind schedule).
There may have been some concern expressed that Wills Street went ahead before Ireland Street and that the works there were a bit excessive & wasteful, but there were certainly no howls of dissent.
What happened was the council put the BFP on the backburner and lost interest. You say that it’s up to the community to “speak with one voice” to get it going again but the fact is no one would have objected if you’d just kept going with it.
You didn’t, and the only reason it’s come back to the fore is because a few of us HAVE made a noise about it.
Sorry Zuvele, I see the BFP matter as a failure by past councils to carry through what they were supposed to do. I think the last two councils (from 2003 – 2008) put it on the backburner for one reason alone – because they could.
I’m trying to point out why council won’t go there.
Why create grief for yourself, when you can put up projects in other towns and know that they’ll be accepted with enthusiasm?
It was exactly the same in Myrtleford ten years or so ago. Everytime council put up a suggestion, it was instant war. As a result, council stopped putting up suggestions.
Myrtleford and Mt B don’t need tourism to survive and have proved this on countless occasions (after the fires in 2003 & 2006, Bright was dead. Myrtleford went on as normal) . Although they’re increasingly interested in developing tourism, it’s icing to them, not cake. So why do you expect them to ‘respect’ Bright and tourism? They don’t see that they have anything to gain by doing so.
I don’t think this is an issue about whether the Shire is competent or not. If every suggestion you put up, whether it’s popped out of your own head or comes out of community consultation, gets knocked down, then you simply stop putting up suggestions. What’s that got to do with the quality of staff or councillors?
I’m now cross posting!! Oh well.
On Coles – interestingly, Ray, at the time I was told (by councillors from other councils) to knock it back and let VCAT sort it out, a tactic increasingly being resorted to by councils. I think that’s a real abbrogation of responsibility. (I was also told not to turn up for the vote, as it would hurt me politically. Again…I’m too responsible to wimp out in that way).
If we had taken that tack, then what would have gone to VCAT was the developer’s original proposal, not the one Shire had negotiated in response to community objections.
Ray, you’re trying to have it both ways. You’re constantly bemoaning the lack of action by council in Bright and the lack of community support there for development – but when I try to explain that one is linked to the other, apparently I’m wrong.
You can either accept that I’m giving you some honest feedback on why things haven’t happened, or not. If you want to reject what I’m saying, fine, but it means nothing will change because the same mindsets will keep operating.
Myrtleford and Mt B don’t need tourism?? Come on. What are they trying to achieve now then? Noel Stone and his assocaites are always looking at tourism for Myrtleford.
What has Myrtleford being doing since tobacco was cancelled? They have looked at tourism!
Yes, Bright was dead when the fires were on and so was Beechworth (and Bright) during the recent fires. But – operators are still here and open for business.
I do hope you come up to Bright this weekend to see the Autumn Festival and compare the numbers here to what Myrtleford generated during their Festival.
The only way Myrtleford will survive is feed off Bright.
Read what I said – it’s icing, they can survive without it. Of course I encourage the development of tourism in Myrtleford and Mt Beauty, but they don’t depend on it.
I know Bright will be buzzing on the weekend, I’m usually there for the Festival. That’s not my point at all.
I do believe that what’s good for one town is good for all. I’m just saying that the towns themselves don’t see it that way.
Zuvele, I understand what you’re saying. But I still think it’s a cop out to say the reason the improvements to the BFP have not gone ahead is because it’s too hard to deal with the Bright community.
As I said earlier, no one protested those things. Yes, we protested the gondola-luge because it was on the wrong hill but what other major projects has the council put forward of its own initiative for Bright?
Look, it’s a fundamental town improvements project. It’s not something anyone WOULD object to, apart from minor things like what colours, what type of seats etc. It’s not a ‘development’ per se in the Coles vein – it’s much needed public works, something Bright hasn’t seen a lot of in the past decade.
I think it’s the mindset of council that has been the problem.
Anyway, at least we know why nothing has happened with the Bright Future Project over the life of the last 2 councils. Thanks for that insight, Zuvele.
I’m not “attacking” you or saying you’re “wrong”, but I do query your belief that the rest of the shire is unaffected by and/or not dependent on Bright’s success.
It’s my belief that, given tourism makes up a massive proportion of the shire’s economy and that given 80% plus of the shire’s tourism is in Bright, it’s very much in the shire’s overall interests to improve Bright’s tourist appeal. That’s how regions benefit – by focusing on the key centres and letting the benefits spread out all by themselves, not by ignoring the key centre and the key industry.
And that’s why I believe the council should have made the BFP its No 1 priority, years ago. It still hasn’t.
Ray, I didn’t say that the rest of the Shire was unaffected by Bright’s success – what I said was you can’t expect them to understand the importance of tourism to the Shire when it isn’t important to them (which is a generalisation, of course, some do realise the importance of tourism. I’m talking about the average person in the street).
I firmly believe (as stated a couple of times above) that what’s good for one town is good for all.
Unfortunately, however, you don’t believe that what’s good for Myrtleford is good for Bright, and the average Myrtleford resident doesn’t believe that what’s good for Bright is good for Myrtleford.
I don’t think that’s correct.
As I said at the outset though, Zuvele, I believe that something as important as the BFP requires council to overlook and rise above such parochialism.
Besides, how would it have bothered other towns if the council obtained an unmatched grant for the BFP? No skin off their nose.
And before you say “unmatched grants are hard to come by”, I’ll give you one solid example: In 2005 Mr Brumby gave $3 million unmatched to Falls Creek for plaza & streetscape works. I firmly believe he’d do the same for Bright – if only the council would make the effort to demonstrate the need for it.
And you’re probably right, Ray. But we live in the real world, and decisions are made there for reasons which sometimes aren’t ideal.
So: noone (apart from yourself) seemed to think that the BFP was a big deal. Can’t remember a single budget submission on it, can’t remember being stopped in the street and asked about it, no letters to the local newspaper that I can recall, etc. And I’m not psychic, so if Bright was a seething mass of people who in their heart of hearts really wanted a BFP and weren’t telling, I wasn’t aware of it.
Fully occupied delivering the stuff people WERE lobbying me for.
I’m sure if we surveyed every single person in the shire as to what their pet project was, we would have come up with a lot of essential projects which we should have delivered. You can only go on the information you have. None of it suggested the BFP was a priority.
I’m not psychic,
And neither is Jan, according to her.
Ah, another ‘conundrum’, Zuvele.
Just to end this on a friendly note, you and I obviously have a different opinion of a councillor’s role. You see it as “giving the community what it wants”, but I see it as that AND “giving them what they need”.
I just think that the reason you don’t hear a lot from the community about the BFP is because they won’t appreciate it until it’s done. It’s “the big picture” project that requires our leaders to show vision – and to be leaders.
Cheers and have a good weekend – in Bright.
I’d argue that I stuck my neck out a few times on the ‘what they need’ thing a few times, Ray.
Have a good weekend. I think I’m missing the Festival for the first time in over twelve years. My loss.