Hazelbrook Association president Angela Lougheed has thrown her hat into the ring as a candidate in the Ward 2 by-election. She tells readers why.
"As a small business owner I have been involved in advocacy for positive outcomes for my local village of Hazelbrook, including the murals in the Hazelbrook underpass developed with local youth groups, bushcare and tidy towns projects, and a much needed master plan to improve and beautify our village centre," she said.
"This advocacy has grown in recent years to include working with representatives of other central Mountains villages to assist in helping community members achieve positive outcomes for their villages.
"It has been a great pleasure and extremely rewarding personally to work with our community - local residents, retailers and home-based business owners - to start to achieve these positive outcomes for our villages."
Ms Lougheed said "effective and important real community consultation at the local council level was essential to obtaining better results that benefit the whole community".
"As a small business owner I know the local business community is greatly concerned about further significant rate rises flagged by council," she said.
"Combined with a 'closed for business' culture and ongoing alarmist 'anti-development' planning policy, there is much concern that this will be the final death blow for the historic hearts of many of the smaller villages. For an environmentally sustainable future our community needs to be able to live, work and play in our local area.
"As an independent, I will continue to advocate for village by village analysis and master planning, undertaken with community consultation, to ensure that the right balance of housing options and density, the fostering of local retail and the creation of local employment opportunities is achieved."