Council Calls Community Back to Local Facilities

The Hinchinbrook Shire Council is calling local residents and community organisations back to local community facilities in Ingham and Halifax, with a big reduction in fees and charges announced in the 2019-2020 council budget.

Community Services and Facilities Chair, Cr Andrew Cripps, said Council had endorsed a 25 percent reduction in hire fees for both the Hinchinbrook Shire Hall in Ingham and the Halifax Community Hall as part of the recent budget process.  

Cr Cripps said Council had also agreed to a 50 per cent reduction in hire fees for the Ingham Showgrounds and the Halifax Showgrounds, to encourage local residents to make the regular use of these community facilities more affordable. 

“The Mayor asked me to look at how to increase the use of our community facilities in the Hinchinbrook Shire and after looking at the figures, Council has agreed to a reduction in the cost to hire these community facilities” said Cr Cripps.   

“We want to call the community back to the Shire Hall and the Ingham Showgrounds for their functions and events and for their sporting competitions and training needs and we also want to make sure that the costs are reasonable” he said.

“At Halifax, the Community Hall is a great facility and the Showgrounds area adjacent to the building is a big space that can host large events, so Council also wants to see these areas utilised by the local community more regularly”.

“We have been making improvements to these community facilities and we are also talking to the community about how to make more improvements going forward, so these spaces meet the needs of local residents and organisations”.

Cr Cripps said Council had recently re-established the Ingham Showground Users Advisory Committee as a forum for the community to provide feedback to the Hinchinbrook Shire Council on showground management issues.