Preparing for 2024

Happy New Year from Yarra Ranges Council Mayor Sophie Todorov. Picture: ON FILE

Happy New Year everyone, I hope you’re all well and enjoying the holiday period, and that 2024 has some amazing things in store for you!

Summer in the Yarra Ranges can throw up a range of emotions, so I’d like to take this time to talk about the importance of preparing your property, and yourselves, for the hotter months ahead.

Clearing up anything that could be a fire hazard around your property is critical, as things like fallen tree debris, grass, twigs and excess vegetation can dry out and become very flammable in the event of a fire.

The CFA have plenty of great resources and tips available on their website about how to best prepare your property, as well as how to create a fire plan in case of emergencies.

This time of year is also when our annual hard waste collection begins.

Between January-March, every household in the Yarra Ranges will have a scheduled collection week where they can place unwanted old appliances, bulky items and branches out for collection.

The hard waste items that you place out are recycled as much as possible, but before putting them out, consider whether they are items that could be sold, given away or donated. You know what they say, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure!

You can find out everything you need to know about your hard waste collection, including what you can and can’t put out and when your collection is, by visiting yarraranges.vic.gov.au/hardwaste or by giving us a call on 1300 368 333.

Lastly, I wanted to highlight that later this year, we’ll be developing our next Council Plan.

The Council Plan is our key planning document for the next four years, that describes the goals and objectives we want to deliver for the community over the next electoral term.

It also describes what we as a Council stand for and explains how our performance will be measured and reported back to the community.

It is therefore vital that we get your feedback on what your priorities are for the Yarra Ranges, so please keep an eye out this year for a range of opportunities to get involved in arguably our most important document that we put together. We can’t do it without you!

Thank you for reading and I wish you all the very best for the year ahead!