Foster Community Association urges community to become involved

“THE Foster community is a great community, and it can only improve. Let us all help it do so,” says Larry Giddy.

The president of Foster Community Association is calling for someone to take up the position of Secretary/Public Officer, which remains vacant after the association’s recent annual general meeting. Jo Stringer has stepped down after several years of hard work in the role. Vice-President is Robert Fulton and Pamela Park is Treasurer.

A management plan for Foster Station Park leads the long list of achievements notched up by the association over the last twelve months, as the president explained in his report to the Annual General Meeting, an edited version of which is included below:

FOSTER STATION PARK

The establishment of a Management Plan for Foster Station Park has been a huge undertaking for a relatively small community organisation.  That plan has been completed and is in the final stage of being handed over to the Great Southern Rail Trail Committee of Management.  I would like to acknowledge the hundreds of hours of work, countless meetings attended and professionalism brought to this project by two FCA members: the head of the Foster Station Park steering committee – Robert Fulton, and the dedication, enthusiasm and commitment of the plan’s architect, Heinz Haselroither.

It is now up to the Foster community and surrounding district to put their support behind all the good work that has been achieved in the past eighteen months, and develop this parcel of land that can be a great asset to this area.

FOSTER NORTH LOOKOUT

Another big issue that has been of importance to Foster and the Corner Inlet district is the development of the Foster North lookout.  Money has finally been secured for this development and a project engineer has been assigned by the shire to oversee this project. A concept plan has been drawn up, and even though ground has yet to be turned over, the shire wants to have this project completed by the end of November. I want to thank all the members of FCA who have shown an interest in getting this done – and especially Bill Davies who has kept this issue alive and championed this project from the very beginning!

FOSTER COMMUNITY PLAN

One of the most important and biggest issues we face as a community is the establishment of the Foster Community Plan.  FCA has already undertaken the first step, community engagement through a Planning For Real® exercise. I want to thank Linda Giddy for her hours of work on this matter and Bill Gurnett for his help in establishing the Planning for Real® process in our community. The results have been given to the shire’s Community Strengthening Officer, Barbara Look, to categorise and prioritise for our use in the establishment of the Community Plan. The next stage of the Plan’s development will take place in the next few weeks.

These are only a few of the issues that the Foster Community Association has been working on. It has plans also for:

• Improving Foster’s streetscape;
• Increasing and improving parking in Foster;
• Beautifying Foster’s laneways;
• Improving street lighting and footpaths;
• Development of a management plan for the cleanup, improvement and on going maintenance of Stockyard Creek;
• Refurbishment of the ‘Welcome to Foster’ sign;
• The establishment of an asset register for Foster that can be used by all the groups within the community;
• Traffic management along Main Street, and
• The establishment of a footpath from the Foster hall to the businesses at the top of Toora Road.

NEXT MEETING

Foster Community Association currently meets on the third Tuesday of each month. There was a general meeting last night (Tuesday September 20) and the next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday October 18 at 7.30pm at the Community Health Centre. Residents of Foster are urged to come along and contribute to their community. For further information, or if you are interested in being Secretary, please contact Larry Giddy on 5689 1379 or (0428) 592 684 or Robert Fulton on 5682 2566.

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