Mining town's mayor open to diversifying industry

Newly elected mayor of Muswellbrook Steven Reynolds may be from mining stock but says he’s open to diversifying the area with other forms of industries.

Muswellbrook mayor Steve Reynolds and his family. Picture: Supplied.

Newly elected mayor of Muswellbrook Steven Reynolds may be from mining stock but says he’s open to diversifying the area with other forms of industries.

Speaking to the Newcastle News, Reynolds, who is a popular figure within the district, believes there’s room for more big business in the town.

“Whilst I have a mining background we do need to diversify,” Reynolds said. “Council will continue to explore alternative and new industries to balance power and coal industries. We’ve got to look at creating more jobs in the Upper Hunter and the Muswellbrook shire.”

Muswellbrook has traditionally been a mining town but in recent years the debate has been raging in terms of - economy against the environment, jobs versus homes, mines or agriculture.

Creating new jobs, while not being reliant on the core industries has been a moot point, especially within the council.

The newly elected mayor has a mining background but is keen for the area to diversify.

When it comes to employment, there’s already some good news on the horizon.

Despite the impending close of the Liddell power station, AGL is planning to establish a Hunter Energy Hub between the old site and the Bayswater plant, located between Singleton and Muswellbrook, which is set to create up to 1000 jobs.

Citing the town of Scone, where mining and the thoroughbred industry co-exist, Reynolds believes potential opportunities are already sitting on the town’s doorstep.

“With our transport network that we’ve got available in the corridor that we have, there’s a broad range we can look at. Agriculture is strong here and thoroughbred industry there are key areas which we can build on. With the power station shutting down there’s a beautiful piece of land there that could open the door there for any type of manufacturing or business down the track. You’re not going to keep everyone happy and it’s not about making the popular decision it’s about making the right decision,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds says criticism regarding decision making within the chamber is now a thing of the past.

Claims of lack of transparency, poor consultation and inadequate workings were put under the spotlight with the previous council regarding the Mangoola mine extension.

After the extension of the mine was opposed by Council, it was given the green light by the state’s independent Planning Commission (IPC)

It caused some councillors to claim the process to oppose the mine project was flawed.

“That’s the benefit of having democracy, we all have our own opinion and do our own research I stood behind what I believed in that issue. The outcome, although it wasn’t everyone’s desired result, has seen jobs saved and we’ve had a better outcome with the negotiations council have had with Mangoola. Whats done is done, It’s time to move forward,” Reynolds said.

December’s election saw a major flush out of councillors and the new mayor says he will look to form a strong working relationship with Jennifer Lecky who was elected as his deputy.

The pair will be joined by fellow councillors De-Anne Douglas, Darryl Marshall, Graeme McNeill, Mark Bowditch, Amanda Barry, Louise Dunn, Rod Scholes, Brett Wooddriff, Jeff Drayton and Rohit Mahajan.

“We have seven new councillors and they come with a diverse range of backgrounds. We haven’t seen such a turnover like this in councillors for a long time here. It was like the Melbourne Cup field with well-known people within society throwing their hat in the ring, it was always going to be a competitive election,” Reynolds said.