TAMWORTH Regional Council is calling on the community to pitch ideas on how to help the region best recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The Revive the Region campaign will allow locals to put forward ideas via an online portal and community pop-up sessions, to help kickstart the economy and promote social interaction.
The council's general manager Paul Bennett said the program was "a brain child" of councillors and would help the community take the next step out of the coronavirus crisis.
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"The councillors wanted to recreate that sense of optimism our region is known for and one way to do that is to engage with the community on multiple levels," Mr Bennett said.
"It will be around not just social, but economic areas and attracting visitors back to the region, which is such an important part of our overall economy.
"I have to stress we don't have a big bucket of money to do this but it is about leveraging the resources and facilities that we have."
Mr Bennett said locals from across the shire were encouraged to have their say.
"This is certainly not just about Tamworth, we will be coming out to places like Nundle, Barraba and Manilla," he said.
"We want to understand how they want to engage and what they feel will help their parts of the region recover.
"It really comes down to what ideas fit under the Public Health Orders, so really any idea could be on the table.
"I think people are probably busting to get over COVID and this is an opportunity to enjoy each others physical presence in a safe way."
Tamworth mayor Col Murray said the region had been doing the right thing in regard to social-distancing measures.
"It has been about eight weeks since our last coroanvirus case and while that is great news, we can't ignore the fact the virus has not gone away," Cr Murray said.
"We need to observe those simple measures to ensure we don't go down the road of what is happening in Melbourne with some areas going back into lockdown.
"We need to continue to support our economy, continue the good work that has already been done and this program will be a big part of that."
Suggestions can be made via the council's website throughout the month of July, before being taken to councillors for discussion and put on public display.