Residents to launch Teesdale community plan

BIKES, buses and road safety are some of the key priorities for residents in one Golden Plains town.

The Teesdale Community Plan 2025-2029 is to be launched at Turtle Bend on Sunday 29 March from 10.30am to 12pm, where residents can offer feedback and volunteer in helping realise the strategy.

Finalised this year after work began in November, the plan offers guidance to stakeholders such as Golden Plains Shire Council and governments about the priorities of the town from a community perspective.

Some of the plan’s priorities included road safety, a walking/riding/multi-use track to Bannockburn and advocacy for public transport.

Louise Brooks, Geoff Brooks, Fran Richardson, David Bruce and Gavin Gamble are encouraging fellow Teesdale residents to attend the launch of the town’s community plan at Turtle Bend on Sunday 29 March from 10.30am to 12pm.

David Bruce, one of the plan’s community coordinators, said a multi-use track would increase residents’ accessibility to Bannockburn while further separating them from road traffic.

He said young people would be able to reach Bannockburn without relying on their parents.

“They can get to all the facilities that are in Bannockburn, which includes the high school, and their parents don’t have to be the continual taxi service,” he said. “Which becomes quite a task when you are out here in regional Victoria.”

He said the plan used feedback from surveyed residents to group and rank a list of priorities that could be achieved or advocated for. Previous achievements include equipment for the Turtle Bend playground, reduced speed limits and an upgraded bus stop in the town’s east.

Ready: Gavin Gamble, David Bruce, Geoff Brooks, Louise Brooks and Fran Richardson on the track at Turtle Bend they are advocating to extend to Bannockburn as part of a community plan for Teesdale.

The track is a popular project. Mr Bruce said community coordinators had used such interest to advocate for flora and fauna studies as well as contractor consultations as part of the proposal.

“We have quite a lot of information about how this can be done and where it can connect,” he said.

Fellow coordinator Louise Brooks said the plan’s launch was another way residents could offer ideas or support.

“This is another opportunity… Nothing’s going to happen without the volunteers,” she said. “But we’re open to all sorts of different ideas too.”

She said that at the launch coordinators would be encouraging residents to submit feedback as part of the Department of Transport and Planning’s review into the Geelong and Bannockburn bus networks.

“It’s all of Golden Plains who can input into that survey and there’s a lot of parents who drive their kids towards the jobs, to sports events,” she said.