Council & Business
6 September, 2024
Meddows-Taylor seeks another term
Chris Meddows-Taylor, currently serving as councillor for the Paddys Ranges Ward, has announced his decision to seek re-election at the upcoming local government elections.
First elected to the Central Goldfields Shire Council in 2005, Cr Meddows-Taylor said his enthusiasm for the role has remained unchanged, two decades on.
“My passion to make a difference for the better is no different... but now I have the real experience and know-how to best achieve the outcomes needed at a time when local government has become more challenging, especially as funding and resources increasingly dry up,” he said.
In addition to representing the residents of Paddys Ranges Ward, Cr Meddows-Taylor has also led
the shire — serving six mayoral terms.
“I believe what residents want is a great future for our beautiful shire — a place where we have the housing, sustainable population and key services that people need and the employment access and activities which make this a place of choice to attract and retain people of all ages,” he said.
Cr Meddows-Taylor said he was proud of the work of the present council to target population growth and create more housing which is also essential to support employment.
“We need to lobby government investment to support the costly area of enabling infrastructure — things like roads, reserves and services to support new housing developments — an example of this is the investment to provide sewerage for Talbot now we have a business case and planning for sustainable growth there,” he said.
“The Talbot Futures project is the most exciting development in Talbot since the gold rush.”
A further priority for the shire according to him is seeking better access to public transport.
“We were successful as a council gaining weekend passenger train services into Maryborough which was a major priority for me but our Youth Council has highlighted the problem of connecting bus services and we should have parity of passenger rail services with Ararat with added weekday services being a key priority,” he said.
Other focus areas in need of addressing, according to Cr Meddows-Taylor, include restoration of funding for Go Goldfields, the World Heritage Listing, and implementing a model similar to Talbot’s medical car initiative in other communities.
“The exciting thing about local government is achieving things and working together but then realising there are so many more things still to do,” he said.