The Central Desert Regional Council has adopted its 2017/18 Regional Council Plan at a Special Council Meeting held on Thursday 22nd July.

The Regional Council Plan presents an overview of Council's vision for the coming 12 months, including the priorities for its nine communities, how it will implement its Strategic Plan, and its rates and charges for 2017/18.

President, Adrian Dixon said "as the final Regional Plan for this Council prior to the August 2017 elections, I am pleased to see a renewed focus on developing tourism and business opportunities for our region, improving living conditions for our residents and of course, ensuring the financial health of our organisation".

At the community level, priorities include:

• A continuing focus on the Community Development Program to assist job seekers secure a job;
• Continuous improvement in service delivery for programs such as Community Safety Patrol, Aged Care, Youth Services and Children's Services;
• A focus on working with the Commonwealth and NT Governments to find solutions to alleviate power and water supply issues in our communities, and;
• The continued support and sponsorship of community events during school and public holidays.

In terms of infrastructure, some of the major projects are:

• Rectifying damage caused by the one in 50 year rain event which occurred in January 2017;
• Ongoing upgrades to community roads to improve traffic flow and safety, and;
• Completion of Homelands Extra Allowance housing upgrades in all homelands houses.

Council acknowledges the assistance and support of its various funding bodies and partner organisations in assisting to bring the Regional Plan to fruition.

A copy of the Regional Council Plan can be found on Council's website or a hard copy is available from the Alice Springs office. More information can be obtained by contacting the Chief Executive Officer, Cathryn Hutton on 08 8958 9500.

The Central Desert Regional Council is proud to be associated with the 70th Harts Range Bush Sports Weekend being held over the Picnic Day weekend in August (4th-7th August). 

The weekend sees a huge range of family entertainment including stockhorse races, rodeo, gymkhana, sports events including running races, novelty races for kids, lizard race, ladies cow tail toss, high jump, tug o war and jumping castle for the little ones.

The Harts Range Racecourse is located 215km east of Alice Springs on the Plenty Highway and is adjacent to the Atitjere community.  For more information please see the Harts Range Amateur Race Club’s website: http://www.hartsrangeraces.org.au (external link).