A word from the Chairman – December 14, 2017

It’s hard to believe that all of a sudden, we are less than two weeks away from Christmas Day and the end of 2017 to follow shortly thereafter – where has the year gone? The sad part of it all is that it appears that the older one gets the faster the year seems to pass us by – do you know the feeling? This time of the year is always a good time to reflect on the past 12 months and plan the coming 12.

I wanted to share with those who were unable to attend our recent luncheon, a snapshot of the activities of Committee for Lorne (CfL) over the past twelve months. At our AGM in December 2016, I reinforced that we need to improve our communication channels and platforms moving forward and resurrect a number of initiatives that lost a bit of momentum in the previous year. I am happy to be able to report that the 52 weekly articles in this paper over the past year was only the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to linking back with our community.

The CfL hosted four very well attended community lunches with multiple guest speakers of note. Four community workshops were facilitated in Lorne, one in Melbourne and one with the Lorne School to provide further insight and input to the document titled “Achieving Lorne’s Aspirations”. We conducted six bimonthly CfL meetings, updated our website and improved the platform for our mobile responsive weekly delivery of the Committee for Lorne Page in the Surf Coast Times.

Our involvement in major projects has included driving the research project on the directions and options to accommodate Lorne’s future and the current goal is the delivery of the “Accommodating Lorne’s Future” report by June 30, 2018. The report will look to present a Statement of Needs in respect of affordable accommodation, long term rental and peak season accommodation together with suggested solutions to satisfy those needs. We were the active project owners of the Stribling Reserve Master Plan and have initiated the review of the Lorne Strategy 2003 (scheduled to start in 2018) and we are actively involved in the Point Grey Steering Group.

We have continued to develop strong relationships with the multiple government agencies that manage our town and a highlight has been the continued Interagency meetings with the Surf Coast Shire executive team and Great Ocean Road Coast Committee. The relationships that have been established have never been stronger and with support from all levels of Government, we are well positioned to further achieve the aspirations of the Lorne community.

I would like to thank the CfL committee members who have been actively involved in the many aspects of our progress over the past twelve months and urge you to attend the annual general meeting this afternoon (December 14th at 5pm) at Stribling Reserve.

Ian Stewart
Chairman – Committee for Lorne