Loddon Shire Mayoral Column

Published on 23 December 2019

Merry Christmas everyone

I would like to take this opportunity to wish our community a very Merry Christmas and a safe holiday season spent with loved ones. It has been my pleasure to work with Councillors, Council staff and residents through 2019 to help achieve our vision of a prosperous, vibrant and engaged community.

To help ensure that Christmas is safe for all road users this year, the Victoria Police will target holiday hotspots and dangerous drivers.

Since the start of 2019, 253 people have lost their lives on Victorian roads, that is 52 more than the same time last year and means 253 families who will be sadly impacted this Christmas.

Drivers are reminded not to drink or take drugs if they are planning to drive, and to use simple strategies that can reduce risks on the road. These include taking a break while driving, or avoiding driving when tired, staying off mobile phones while driving and being alert on unfamiliar roads.

I hope everyone will make the right choices this Christmas and New Year period to help ensure that our community remains safe and free from the devastating impacts of road trauma.

Survive the heat

With plenty of hot weather expected in the days and weeks ahead, it is timely to think about how this impacts on travel plans. If you are travelling or holidaying around the state this summer, make sure you are ‘FireReady’.

Being FireReady means staying informed about the risks in the area you are travelling through, knowing the Fire Danger Rating and whether there is a Total Fire Ban. You should keep up to date with local weather conditions as it might be necessary to change plans on a hot, dry and windy day.

The CFA recommends saving the VicEmergency Hotline number (1800 226 226) in your mobile phone and downloading the VicEmergency app. When staying away from home, Leaving Early options should be considered.

Also, never leave children, pets or adults in a parked car. The temperature inside a car can double within minutes and can lead to heat exhaustion and death.

Christmas and New Year office and service hours

I would also like to remind our community that Council offices in Wedderburn and Serpentine will close at noon on Tuesday 24 December and reopen at 8.15am on Thursday 2 January 2020.

The Loddon Visitor Information Centre will be closed on Christmas Day, but is otherwise open Monday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm and from 10am to 4pm on Sundays and public holidays. For enquiries phone 5494 3489.

There will be changes to scheduled kerbside garbage and recycling collections. Collections scheduled for Christmas Day (Wednesday 25 December) will instead take place on Saturday 28 December 2019. Collections scheduled for New Year’s Day (Wednesday 1 January 2020) will take place on Saturday 4 January. All waste facilities across the Shire will be closed on public holidays.

The Community Care service will provide limited services from noon Tuesday 24 December and will reopen at 8.30am on Thursday 2 January 2020. Personal care and meals on wheels will be provided and clients will be contacted to discuss their service needs for this period.

There will be no home care, respite care, social support or property maintenance services delivered during this period. For urgent Community Care service assistance during this period, please contact the after-hours service on 0427 804 736.

This list of Council closures and changes to services may also be found on our website: www.loddon.vic.gov.au or call Council on 5494 1200.

Swim safely these holidays

When the weather is hot and children are on holidays, people look for a place to swim. Irrigation channels are not the place to cool off. While a channel might look still and calm, there could be hidden undercurrents, pipes, weeds and debris, regulator gates, drains and unpredictable depths.

Pets should not swim in channels either as they are also at risk of becoming tangled in weeds or submerged branches.

Families and community members are instead encouraged to swim at a supervised location such as a local public swimming pool. There are five swimming pools within the Loddon Shire and they provide a great environment for children to learn to swim. They also offer excellent opportunities for relaxation and social interaction. The opening hours and entrance fees may be found on our website https://www.loddon.vic.gov.au/For-residents/Community-facilities/Swimming-pools

Did you know

We all produce a lot more waste over the Christmas and New Year period and this puts pressure on our waste facilities. While bottles, cartons, cans, paper packaging and much of the plastic packaging can be recycled, some items cannot go in the kerbside recycling.

Batteries and E-waste need to be dropped off at an appropriate location, this is also the case with butane aerosols such as the kind you might use with a camping stove.

Clothing and pillows should never go into the recycling and if they can’t be reused, they must go in the waste bin. Similarly Christmas decorations are not recyclable as they a usually made of glitter, glue and plastic.

Helium balloons also pose an environmental risk if allowed to fly away. Never purposely release balloons as these return to earth as ugly and harmful litter. The CSIRO has outlined balloons and their attachments as being in the top three most harmful pollutants threatening marine wildlife as they are mistaken for food and ingested. So this summer consider finding another way to celebrate, such as using paper decorations and blowing bubbles.