Obesity throughout six western Victorian local government areas including Ballarat will be high on the list of priority discussion points when the Central Highlands Regional Assembly convenes in Creswick on Thursday.
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The partnership, which brings together community and business leaders from across the Ballarat, Pyrenees, Golden Plains, Moorabool, Hepburn and Ararat shires, aims to assist government by establishing the priorities for the region.
The Central Highlands Regional Partnership will work with the Department of Health and Human Services to try and slash the region’s obesity level by five per cent.
CHRP chairman George Fong said the initiative allowed leaders from across the community to focus on the priorities for the region outside of election cycles.
“What we’ve done is develop several priorities, most outstanding being primary health, digital connectivity and waste to energy,” Mr Fong said. “Obesity is becoming a big one for our region, so we’re very keen on how we improve things like (body mass indexes), eating habits and primary fitness.
“What we need to do is engage on the ground and part of the thinking is we need to have a long term impact on culture.”
Another key priority being investigated is waste to energy production, which is being led by Hepburn Shire chief executive Aaron van Egmond.
The shire recently landed $650,000 from the state government for a waste to energy facility at the Daylesford Transfer Station which will handle 2000 tonnes of food waste a year.
Ballarat City chief executive Justine Linley said in July a waste to energy plant in the Ballarat West Employment Zone would also be ready to go to market in the next 12 months.
Mr Fong said the partnership provided leaders from across the six shires to pool their resources to work towards common goals.
“Rather than everyone doing their own thing we can all have a coordinated strategy because we know the government has a big interest in (the renewable energy) area.”
Digital connectivity will be the other key priority addressed by the partnership when it meets at the RACV Resort on Thursday.
Mr Fong has taken a leading role in advocating on the issue as one of nine representatives on the Regional Development Advisory Committee.
As well as engaging business and community leaders with council representatives, a group of years 10-12 school students from across the six municipalities will also be involved.
Findings from Thursday’s meeting will be compiled before being presented to the state government Rural and Regional Committee in a month.
