Fears for the Community Partnerships program - which works on projects in and about Wellington - have been allayed by officials from NSW Corrective Services despite a bombshell being dropped on a community meeting on Tuesday.
“All the people involved in the Wellington community have been informed we will be working with them to ensure projects are done here,” a spokesperson for NSW Corrective Services said.
“This has been a misunderstanding and the message was confusing, but we are backing Wellington.”
The concerns followed a packed meeting at the Council chambers where members from the program were told the Mobile Outreach Program, which services areas within a 200-kilometre radius of Wellington, would include projects in Forbes and Dubbo based on pre-election promises from the Member for Dubbo Troy Grant and because of that, Wellington’s projects would suffer. Some believed it meant the end of local projects but Corrective Services has confirmed it will not being changing its current arrangements with the community.
It also outlined that a community consultative group lead by the mayor would take over, but this was also overturned after discussions within the Corrective Services. Now the community in Wellington would make decisions on projects performed by inmates and those on Corrective Services at the Wellington Correctional Centre.
Wellington’s projects included work on The Real Hope, Wuuluman and Catholic churches, Wellington Information and Neighbourhood Services, Lions Club projects, the Wellington Golf Club, Wellington Amateur Theatrical Society, Mt Arthur Trust, Lake Burrendong and the Burrendong Arboretum.
The community will meet every second Tuesday at the Council Chambers as per normal with NSW Corrective Services to give the Community Partnerships program its full support at that meeting.