What Collinsville wants: Residents’ wish lists for future
A consultation project has uncovered the top priorities for town residents, while also revealing they feel unfairly treated.
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Collinsville residents have shared their wish lists for the future while also expressing their belief the town is unfairly treated compared to other parts of the Whitsundays.
A consultation project undertaken by the Whitsunday Regional Council helped uncover what residents wanted in the town to guide the development of the Collinsville Master Plan and prioritise funding.
Consultation was undertaken between October 16 and November 20, with a total of 100 submissions made during the period.
A summary report of the consultation was prepared and revealed a waterpark was the top desire for Collinsville residents.
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The top three areas in which Collinsville residents would like to see improvements are in parks/public spaces, roads/paths/buildings and health/wellbeing.
Within this, the top five projects they would like to see undertaken were a waterpark, cheaper water, upgrading park equipment, a bike track and BMX pump and town beautification.
In the last council meeting for 2020, it was resolved to allocate $1.2 million in COVID recovery funds towards a water park in the town.
But alongside the ideas for future projects was a sentiment from Collinsville residents that the town was not on a level playing field with other areas of the Whitsundays.
The report states there was a feeling of "unfair treatment" and "neglect" compared to other towns.
"Many participants expressed they do not feel they have received the same level of service as other areas within the region," the summary report stated.
"This sentiment indicates residents have higher expectations of WRC's services than what is being delivered currently."
The report states residents want to see major upgrades and visible improvements in Collinsville within the next few years.
"The results also show that residents would prefer upgrades that enhance their liveability and beautify the town, rather than a focus on tourism projects," it states.
It concludes ongoing communication and engagement was needed with Collinsville residents to keep people in the loop with planned revamps.
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