Last week’s Community Wind Forum in Castlemaine Town Hall marked the last of 6 held across Mount Alexander area in the past 3 weeks.

“We are very grateful to the 170 community members who’ve participated in the forums.  We’ve received a lot of very valuable input from the community that will help guide the future direction of the project.  We’ve heard from people about what the possible benefits, as well as the challenges, of delivering a successful project will be”, said Mick Lewin, Chair of the Mount Alexander Community Wind Working Group.

Local residents conveyed feedback on the vision to set up a small community-owned wind farm in the Mount Alexander Shire.  Many perspectives were raised as well as a number of questions.  Questions will be answered publicly by the Mount Alexander Sustainability Group (MASG) over coming weeks via a ‘FAQ’ on their website (www.masg.org.au/communitywind).

“While some people have concerns that we will work hard to address, the response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive” said Project Coordinator, Jarra Hicks.

“What we’ve heard loud and clear is the importance of getting out there and talking with people, getting the community involved and upholding strong values of cooperation and communication.”

In addition to the forums, MASG is currently conducting an online survey, to give more people the opportunity to have input into the project.  The survey is open until the end of May and is available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MountAlxanderCommunityWind.

The results of the community forums and the survey will be compiled into a ‘community feasibility report’ and help guide the future project plans.

MASG is calling on those people who wish to support the vision of the project to sign up as a supporter and to donate funds to help move the project forward.  All donations are tax deductible and can be made on the website for at the MASG office: 233 Barker St Castlemaine, (03) 5470 6864.

“We thank all those who’ve contributed to this important community conversation and look forward to keep you up to date about the progress of the project” said Mick Lewin.