The council won an award for their contribution to regional growth at the Local Government Awards for their work with the Valley Central Industrial Precinct.

“That award recognises the amount of work and effort working with the land owners to develop a plan in the industrial site of Westbury which is now starting to show significant dividends interested and committed to developing on site,” Mayor Craig Perkins said.

Winning the award was a reflection on the staff’s ability to work with multiple stakeholders and build trusted relationships, Cr Perkins said.

The council nominated themselves for the award.

“From what we understand there was quite a number of entrants around Australia in that category, and we were fortunate enough to win it,” Cr Perkins said.  

“Our hope is that we can go on and win the overall award for the best council in Australia.”

The development has been ongoing since 2008.

“One of the land owners approached the council about developing the site, we stood back and had a good look at it and we spoke to the three land owners in that area about turning it into industrial development,” Cr Perkins said.

“We worked with them to draw up the various planning and the strategic work so we ended up with a site that not only made it easy for people to want to invest there, but to make sure it was suitable development that was going to take place on the site.”

Cr Perkins said the development was not just about finding something that worked with Westbury, but will also bring growth to the town and region.

“We’re talking to about half a dozen or so businesses that are looking to invest and that total investment, if it comes off, will be in the vicinity of $500 million,” he said.

More than 1800 construction jobs would be created, resulting in 200 ongoing jobs in the region, if all the developments come to fruition.

“Most of the businesses that are talking to us will be new to Tasmania. They will certainly have a flow on effect, and they will bring skilled employment jobs as well,” he said.