Our Swanbank Clean Energy Hub Community Reference Group (CRG) held its final meeting for 2024 in Ripley on 20 November. The CRG was set up to create a two-way communication channel between CleanCo and the Ipswich community. This was the third time our CRG has met.

As well as providing an update on site activities, the meeting included a workshop to gather CRG feedback on concept designs for improvements to the lakeside park, wetland area (southern end of Swanbank lake) and lookout area on the northern border of the site. These three infrastructure improvements were identified as priorities for the community through the masterplanning process we held in 2023. Our team has been working with Jaime Traspaderne from Arup to develop some early concepts.

The CRG members – 16 residents of Ipswich – provided invaluable feedback on these concepts. There was genuine enthusiasm for the projects and lots of lively discussion. Arup will now be working to synthesise this feedback so CleanCo can share the revised concept designs with the broader community in 2025.

At the end of our meeting we surveyed the CRG members for their feedback about how effective the forum is as a two-way communication channel. The responses were overwhelmingly positive. Some comments included: “Everyone is included and able to contribute ideas”, “It gives an opportunity to have a bigger part in the community and talk with people I wouldn’t usually” and “I feel my input is valued and respected by the CleanCo team”.

A sincere thanks to our CRG members for helping us build a Clean Energy Hub the community can be proud of for many years to come!