Where and when

  1. Tuesday 20 October, 9.30am to 11.30amCaragabal Hall, Wyalong Street, Caragabal
  2. Tuesday 20 October, 1pm to 3pmQuandialla Soldiers' Memorial Hall, Second Street, Quandialla
  3. Wednesday 21 October, 9.30am to 11.30amGreenethorpe Soldiers' Memorial Hall, Louth Street, Greenethorpe
  4. Wednesday 21 October, 6pm to 8pmGrenfell Bowling Club, Cross Street, Grenfell: the only evening session
The four community engagement sessions, as listed in Weddin Shire Council's media release of 1 October 2026 and in item 11.4 of the agenda for its 15 October ordinary meeting. Sasha Lennon of SC Lennon & Associates leads them.

The council says the strategy will turn community priorities into a five-year framework of actions, and that it answers the Weddin: 2035 Community Strategic Plan, written in early 2025, in which residents asked for better economic development outcomes. Mayor Paul Best, in the release: I encourage everyone to get involved in the consultation process.

What the council's report adds

Item 11.4 on the 15 October agenda is a progress report for councillors to note, with no decision attached. It says more than the release does. The shire has not had an Economic Development Strategy (EDS) for several years. The work was budgeted at $40,000 in 2026/27. And on the timing of the sessions, the report is plain: Council acknowledges and regrets the community engagement workshops may overlap with the commencement of harvest. Its answer is the online survey, which it says has been developed and will be promoted to all residents. The report's risk table makes the same point in its own terms: it rates the chance that consultation during harvest will impair participation by a major industry in the shire as medium, with medium impact, and counts on the survey to bring that down to low. The biggest risk in the table is a different one, rated high on both counts: that funding constraints may limit the council's capacity to deliver the actions the strategy names. The stated answer is to make sure the strategy picks actions the council can deliver with its existing money and staff.

The report also sets out a short timetable, which it calls tight. Research runs to the end of October. Through November the consultant meets agencies, business and community representatives, analyses the survey and writes a Strategic Themes and Directions Paper. A draft strategy is prepared between November and December, then goes on public exhibition for submissions. The strategy is to be finalised by February 2027, so that projects in it can be considered in the 2027/28 budget.

Consultant
SC Lennon & Associates; project lead Sasha Lennon
Budget
$40,000 in 2026/27
Research
To the end of October 2026
Direction-setting
To November 2026, ending in a Strategic Themes and Directions Paper
Draft strategy
November to December 2026, then public exhibition
Final
By February 2027, in time for the 2027/28 budget
The Economic Development Strategy 2027-2032 project, as item 11.4 of the 15 October 2026 ordinary meeting agenda describes it (pages 175 to 179).

Our view

Labelled as opinion. Three of the four sessions are on weekday mornings and afternoons in farming villages, in the week the council itself expects harvest to start. It has said so and said sorry, which is more candour than most councils manage, but it means the survey is the main way growers will be heard. On the council's own timetable, the survey is analysed in November, so if it is released late it will have a short life. The draft then goes on exhibition somewhere between December and February, which on our reading of the dates puts it across Christmas and the summer holidays. A strategy meant to shape the next five years of a farm shire is worth a submission window that farmers can actually use. We will report the survey when the council publishes it, and the draft when it goes on exhibition.

How we sourced this

We read item 11.4, Weddin Shire Economic Development Strategy 2027-2032, in the 235-page agenda for Weddin Shire Council's ordinary meeting of Thursday 15 October 2026 (pages 175 to 179), and the council's media release of 1 October 2026 on its website. We checked the release page and the council's Community Surveys page for a link to the online survey on 13 October 2026 and found none. We kept copies of both documents.

What we have not done. We have not asked the council when the survey will open or how long it will run, and the agenda gives no exhibition dates for the draft. The meeting is on 15 October, after publication; the item is for noting only.

Sources

Made like this: AI did the reading and drafting, people carry the responsibility, working from the primary sources below. Before it ran, a script matched 3 quotations letter for letter against our saved copies. More on our method.

  1. Weddin Shire Council, Ordinary Council Meeting agenda, Thursday 15 October 2026 (PDF, 235 pages, read 13 October 2026): item 11.4, Weddin Shire Economic Development Strategy 2027-2032, pages 175 to 179.
  2. Weddin Shire Council, Have your say on economic development in Weddin Shire (media release, 1 October 2026, read 13 October 2026).

Farm in the shire, run a business in Grenfell, or found the survey? Tell us and we will check it and log the outcome here.