Minutes of the Berry Forum Meeting
Held at the School of Arts on Thursday 8th December 2016 at 7.30pm

Present: 85 attendees, including Clr. Patricia White. Apologies: Clr. Annette Alldrick.

Welcome and Introduction (David Carter – Chair)
The Forum has now been representing the Berry community for eighteen months.

Berry Bypass progress (Shannon Chisholm – Fulton Hogan)
Shannon covered progress on the highway construction and advised that some members of the community would be approached to comment on FH’s work.

Berry District Park

  • James Robinson advised that Council have adopted the Berry Strategic Plan and noted the priority attached to the District Park by the community.
  • Development of Council’s Master Plan for the Park commenced almost two years ago, but unfortunately their discussions with community members all occurred in bilateral meetings and there were no community discussions.
  • Council has agreed to the Forum’s request that $50,000 be allocated now to undertake design work, including the reallocation of $17,000 from the Berry Strategic Plan budget.
  • Council wants the design of the District Park to be community led, so James will chair the new District Park Review Group (DPRG). The partnership with Council will work through Clr. John Wells, who will be Vice Chairman, and Kate Ryan, who coordinates the CCBs.
  • Terms of Reference for the DPRG have been circulated and James emphasized that its role is to be impartial in facilitating the wishes of the broader community.
  • Grahame Sweeney from the Rotary Club of Berry presented on the concept of having Nature Play. Research has shown children are spending only 40min outdoors and the Park should include activity areas with challenges that will encourage return visits and picnic/rest areas with barbeque facilities. The Rotary Club are welcoming community participation in the design and development of the Park and the activity areas.
  • Representatives of Berry cricket, rugby league and soccer teams spoke about the increasing numbers of participants, both male and female, and advocated for more playing fields for games and practice, as space on existing fields is very limited.

Strategic Plan Focus Areas (David Carter)
Focus Area #2 is now Berry District Park, and cycle & walking paths have been merged with Focus Area #3. The Berry Trails Project is sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

Berry Estate Trails Project (Derek Jorgensen)
Around 200km of trails have been identified and maps are available on the Trails website.
There is no need to buy any land, as the tracks will use rights of way and paper roads.
There are four types of trails – historical trails, regional trails, rail trails and ‘paper road’ trails, all of which leverage land owned by Council or State Government.
Derek asked the community for help with governance of the project and applications for funding.

Administrative Matters (Stuart Coughlan)
Minutes of the Forum Meeting held on 13 October were approved.
The three options for the timing of rates increases are on the Council website.
Council staff will attend the next Forum meeting to discuss Recycling & Waste Transfer. It is proposed that facilities will operate only Friday to Sunday and the buyback facility on Saturday/Sunday mornings.

Next Meeting is on Thursday 9th February at 7:30pm in the Pavilion Hall at the Showground.