Collie set to become a future trail hub

The Trails Forum, which was held in Collie last week, discussed how local businesses, not-for-profits and government agencies could all benefit from being a trail town.

A trail town is a hub for high quality trails and outdoor experiences which are supported by local businesses.

The forum was part of the trail town initiative, which is part of the the Western Australian Strategic Trails Blueprint 2017–2021.

The blueprint is a guide for the development and management of quality trails and trail experiences across WA and is funded by the Department of Sport and Recreation. 

The blueprint lists many economic benefits trail towns can offer to communities, including an increase in tourism that may help stimulate the economy. 

Forum speaker Chris Hughes, the community services manager at Break O’Day Council in Tasmania, said trails had been developed in her area after a downturn in the forestry industry.  

“We had towns that were dying. People were moving away and we as a community and as a local government had to look at some ideas at how we could stop that loss of people and build on our tourism because that was the only thing we could see that could benefit our community, ” Mrs Hughes said. 

“Derby had very limited numbers in people (and) businesses. You could drive down the street and not see a car. Now you drive down the street and it’s just packed with cars.

“We find that young people disappear. They go to the major cities, they don’t stay where they grew up but they’re all coming back and sharing their experiences of being away and just making it a better experience for the tourists and the mountain bikers.” 

Shire of Collie president Sarah Stanley said trail towns were a great way to diversify and broaden economic development. 

“Trails is a really important part of a broader picture. Obviously we’ve traditionally been a mining town and a power generation town and now we are looking to diversify and broaden that economy into something much bigger,” Cr Stanley said. 

“We know we’ve got all of the raw ingredients and a vision for what this can be, now what we need to do is start putting the plans in place and that’s working with all the stakeholders right from the federal and state governments, down to the local business owners.

“We are doing a lot of work in the small business space, we’ve had a project going for a couple of years that’s developing entrepreneurs skills to encourage them to take that step and start up those tiny little businesses, the bike hires, the canoe hires.

“We’re looking at the small to medium businesses that are already existing, what are their challenges, what are their weaknesses and how can we help them through that.”

Sport and Recreation minister Mick Murray said local businesses needed to jump on board. 

“I think we need to convince the business community that this is real and that it will produce jobs and also economic benefit for businesses along the way,” Mr Murray said. 

From Mrs Hughes experience without getting local businesses on board she said it just won’t work.  

“If you don’t have the community on board you’re not going to get anywhere and businesses especially because when those trails open you want those businesses in place, that’s very important,” she said.  

Cr Stanley said Collie will take on board advice from other towns so they don’t make the same mistakes.  

“We need to learn the lessons of those who have come before us. What we need to do is to talk to those guys and see what they did and what we can do a little bit differently, so that we don’t have to make those same mistakes and that will give our business owners a little bit more confidence and be able to put their money where their mouth is.”

Crank’n Cycles owner Erik Mellegers said Collie still has a long way to go in terms of being put on the international and national map for its trails. 

“What Collie has at the moment is not going to put us on the national or international map by any stretch of the imagination. I suppose the thing I have been pushing for the last five or six years is to not promote Collie because we are not ready and if people come now, particularly in the last few years and they left disappointed, they will tell their friends they wouldn't come back,” Mr Mellegers said.

“Whereas now we are on a cusp where things are happening and things have happened and there's so many things that are about to happen in the next 18 months to three years (and) is really going to be a great time to market Collie as a trail town, not just mountain biking, not just walking and also work to with other trail towns.” 

Collie already has a total of 19 trails for walking, biking or paddling, according to Trails WA, a website to find trails in your area. 

For more information about Collie trails go to http://trailswa.com.au or to read more about the Western Australian Strategic Trails Blueprint 2017–2021 go to https://www.dsr.wa.gov.au.