Forbes Shire Council Mayor Phyllis Miller has welcomed the doubling in funding for the Roads to Recovery Program. Council will spend $1million improving roads around the Shire this year, and Cr Miller said this was a great opportunity to bring roads suffering from wear and tear back up to scratch.
Roads to be resealed include Wirrinya Road and Oatha North Road, as well as a five-kilometre stretch of West Plains Road. “Our financial assistance grants has had no CPI increase for them, and in lieu of that we’ve had a Roads to Recovery fund which has just about doubled,” Cr Miller said.
Cr Miller said Council had a priority list for future road improvements, and said now that extra funding had come through; Council was able to bring forward a number of projects. She added this happened in line with Council’s assets management plan.
At the most recent Council meeting held last month, Forbes Shire Council also resolved to form a partnership with cancer awareness group ‘CanAssist’. At the most recent Council meeting held last month, Forbes Shire Council also resolved to form a partnership with cancer awareness group ‘CanAssist’.
Council will partner with CanAssist to hold a prostate awareness seminar. Cr Miller said Council would meet with CanAssist and plan this for the second
half of the year. “We’re of the view that there should be free screening for prostate cancer. It is prevalent in society, as is breast cancer, and women have a program where they’re screened free of charge,” she said.
Nearby Parkes hospital has recently increased the frequency of their chemotherapy treatment, in partnership with CanAssist, and Cr Miller said this was a great result for Forbes cancer patients who were either forced to wait longer, or drive all the way to Orange for treatment.