IT WAS a sea of red-and-white Walcha Rams jerseys at the Tamworth Fit for the Future meeting yesterday.
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About 70 people, almost all of whom made the trip down from Walcha, attended the meeting at Wests’ Diggers.
Of the dozen or so speakers, most spoke passionately against the proposed amalgamation of Walcha and Tamworth councils.
Tamworth mayor Col Murray told the public hearing if the merger was to go ahead, two Walcha representatives would be chosen to sit on the council until the next local government elections were held.
“That would give a somewhat equitable representation for the constituent numbers,” Cr Murray said.
“I really feel for the community of Walcha, because I don’t believe they deserve the trauma and the pressures attached to this discussion.
“Walcha is a fantastic community.
“It has a good council and it doesn’t surprise me to hear such passionate pleas from such a large number of people.”
Tamworth resident Ruth Blakely said she spent a great deal of time in the Walcha community.
“Tamworth has enough going on. It doesn’t need to support a community who are already supporting themselves quite well,” Ms Blakely said.
Andrew Crawford lives on the very edge of the Tamworth shire and said he struggled to get adequate council services.
“If they can’t service the area they already have, what hope do they have when the shire boundary moves another 120 kilometres east?” Mr Crawford said.
Walcha resident Sean Laurie said Walcha would be “nothing but a distraction to Tamworth council’s core business”.
“If this amalgamation goes ahead, you will have some very unhappy ratepayers – it’s not a personal thing, it’s just we want to be up there, working alone, by ourselves,” Mr Laurie said.