A plan which will see businesses sharing employees to overcome labour challenges and new investments in local housing, amongst a raft of other priorities, was launched in Hay last week.

The Hay and Carrathool Regional Drought Resilience Plan is the result of over seven months of collaboration between more than 300 people from community, industry and government.

The Plan sets a vision that by 2035, communities across Hay and Carrathool will have greater capacity to adapt to climate, environmental, social, and economic challenges and opportunities while remaining healthy and vibrant, with safe places to live, work, and raise future generations.

Hay Shire Mayor Carol Oataway thanked those who contributed to the Plan.

“This level of community engagement reflects the leadership and strengths of this vibrant region and demonstrates the passion that local people have for its future,” Cr Oataway said.

“Thanks to your input, this Plan is a powerful guide that will help us work together strategically to strengthen our region in the next decade.

“We’re the ones who know what our region needs.

“The plan highlights priority actions for us to focus on include setting up community hubs where people can connect, working groups so businesses can ‘share’ employees, innovative ways to provide care to groups that need it, an initiative to collect and use environmental data, and a roadmap to strengthen our economy.

“State and federal governments need to support regionally-led solutions like ours.”

The Plan shows there is a significant opportunity to keep local communities and economies strong, now and into the future. Cr Oataway said the Plan has already mobilised many people.

“To put it into action, we need community, industry and government to work together to strengthen our capacity to deal with risks and seize opportunities,” she added.

“The Plan will help our region continue our long, proud history in agriculture, and see us benefiting from our local industries and natural environment for generations to come.”

The Plan sets out five strategies: Inclusive & Empowered Communities, Future Ready Businesses, Reimagined Care Economy, Placemaking with Purpose and Coordinated Action for Climate Resilient Economic Development.

Under these are 26 priority actions, with key partners to lead and participate in each of these priorities.

Organisations The Next Economy and the Australian Resilience Centre worked with the local councils and communities to deliver The Hay and Carrathool Regional Drought Resilience Plan.

It has been developed as part of the Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program, which is jointly funded by the Australian Government and NSW Government under the Future Drought Fund.