THREE articles in today’s Argus focus on growth.
The demand for industrial land in McDougalls Business Park has been noted as a barometer for Singleton’s local economic strength.
Big names have been attracted to the spot on the hill in the past 12 months - Bunnings, Ausgrid and Singleton Toyota, to name a few.
Six McDougall lots have sold in six months, eight development applications are before the council and there are predictions of stages four to six opening up in the coming 12 months.
On the Branxton edge of the shire the $1.5billion Huntlee “new town” is progressing with registration of preferred homesites kicking off next Wednesday.
The subdivision of 7500 residential blocks to house about 20,000 people over 25 years is big.
And as the company’s media fact sheet points out, it’s the first “fully master-planned community in the Hunter Valley for more than 50 years”.
The third growth report covers an address by senior bank executive, Rob Henderson.
He is predicting coal will buoy Singleton’s economy well into the foreseeable future.
The industry’s construction phase is around its peak but strong production levels should proceed, possibly for the next 30 years, he says.
The predictions in all three articles are fine.
Not only is it widely hoped that all the good intentions eventuate, it is also hoped that they are accompanied by appropriate care of our social fabric, ecological diversity, community wellbeing services and of course upgraded infrastructure, such as low cost housing and safe roads for all users.
The EYE page six.
•L plate driver was taken for a Sunday drive around town by his mother who sat on the edge of her sit with white knuckles for the entire trip. In addition to this mum also gave constant instructions as the L plater had very few hours under his belt. At the end of the trip L plater said it was much better driving with Dad because he appeared to care very little about his driving because he said nothing the entire time the two of them were in the car. Does this really mean Dad doesn’t care or he is too scared to say anything ?
•One Singleton lady lost her elderly mother at the Tuggerah shopping centre recently or could it rather be her mother lost her daughter. The Octogenarian was asked to wait at the centre’s post office which has some comfy chairs located outside. Instead the mother went looking for P signs in the shopping centre. When this proved fruitless she was assisted by a kind stranger to find her daughter’s car in P row in the vast car park. When this failed the stranger decided to take her lost senior and put her on a train back to Singleton. Fortunately mother and daughter were reunited before this happened, running across each other as mother senior headed to the Wyong train station, otherwise daughter would still be waiting on the platform for mum as there are not too many trains from Wyong to Singleton.
•Young man gets job much to the delight of his parents. Start at 6pm and finish at midnight but he has no licence, on the way to pick him up one night mum decides to pop into the petrol station as fuel is low. Only problem, she is in her pyjamas, but don’t worry there is no one there. As she pulls the trigger on the nozzle, two cars pull up. Her rather obvious attempt to disappear was futile and not helped by the bright red checks.
•Not to IT savvy 52ish-year-old mum decides to try out the new self-service checkouts in a local department store. A very helpful young lady takes her through the process with great success. A day later she decides to try it out again, this time she will pay with cash. After three frustrating attempts to force the cash into the only slot she can see, she glances down and there right in front of her is a bright green arrow flashing towards a cash slot. She will never try to force notes into the receipt slot again.
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• University student decides to help out local charity and buy some chocolate whee l tickets. Obviously all the study has kept the young lass away from such novel gambling events. First up she bought five $1 tickets in the first spin of the wheel. Unfortunately for her she did not get what she thought she was going to get five chances at the spinning wheel. Never mind she learnt her lesson and to lessen the blow from blowing $5 so quickly the kind owners of the wheel let her take for first ever spin of the chocolate wheel. Only trouble she gave it such a spin everyone was waiting for minutes until it came to a complete stop.