A frustrated local business owner has asked Council to make it easier to develop in Forbes.
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Reilly Wallace, who owns a bulk transport business, told Thursday’s Council meeting he was raised in Forbes and wants to grow his business here but has been hampered by Council processes.
“In my short time as a new business owner in Forbes, with the intention of progressively expanding and providing jobs into the future, I’ve encountered many barriers to obtaining industrial land in this town,” he said.
Mr Wallace listed some of the key issues as: a lack of information about the availability of industrial land; a lack of firm land values for potential investors; processes that are complicated and costly; long approval times for building and construction as well as land rezoning. He said he heard the same story from others.
“We have a problem, it needs to be acknowledged, it needs to be fixed,” he said.
“Right now small businesses in Forbes are being pushed to look elsewhere.”
Council’s General Manager Steve Loane offered Mr Wallace his contact details after his address.
He also introduced Jennifer Parker, who holds the new role of Manager Property and Investment with Council, to the meeting. Ms Parker’s role looks after economic development and property management.
On Monday, Mr Loane clarified that Council does have industrial land available in Landrace Estate, near the Central West Livestock Exchange and on Woolshed Road.
“We’ve engaged a valuer to value all of the available land so that we’ve at least got a guidance point,” he said.
But, he added, in most areas private operators are also developing land and Council does not have any planning proposals of that nature on its books.
Mr Wallace called on Council to be proactive and offer some incentives for building here, such as cutting back water and sewer connection fees.