Occasionally, the Power of the People can achieve great things. On Wednesday 20 September 2023, a group of Bathurst ratepayers led by Sophie Wright and Natalie Cranston achieved what was thought by many to be impossible.
One month previously, at July’s Ordinary Council meeting, the majority of Councillors on Bathurst Regional Council voted to proceed with a Special Rate Variation which, if approved in full, would have hit the ratepayer with a 70 per cent rate hike.
After a huge effort to raise public awareness and campaigning against this proposal – including a mass rally of the largest crowd not seen in Bathurst for decades – on Wednesday 20 September the majority of Councillors reversed their decision and the SRV IS OFFICIALLY DEAD!
Sometimes democracy works and on one night in September in a regional city called Bathurst, it sure did.
