The Orange Podcast

Send us Fan Mail

After years of negotiations, the State Government has agreed to return more than 80 hectares of crown land to the local Land Council. 

It happened after Orange City Council and the Orange Local Aboriginal Lands Council sat around the negotiating table with officials from the Crown Lands Dept representing the state Government.

The government’s new approach was designed to avoid the one-by-one series of native title claims, a process that can take years to sort through in each case.

The negotiations put a long list of properties on the table which could be discussed at the one time.

Send us Fan Mail

if you happen to take a stroll around the inner city laneways of Orange in the next few days you might be surprised by  the sight of doors and windows that weren't there before. 

It’s the work of an artist , Catherine O’Donnell, the latest step in the FutureCity upgrade of Orange's CBD. 

And, it could be sometime before the final approvals are granted to build a new sports precinct and parklands alongside  Sir Jack Brabham Park.

But that hasn’t stopped the local little athletics crew starting to get excited . They’re also exploring the technicalities of what could be built there one day. We’ll find out about how an underground installation in the track could deliver lap times automatically.

Send us Fan Mail

This week a new strategy was unveiled to help guide the future development of housing in Orange for the next 20years.

Among its wide-ranging findings, there’s evidence about the biggest sector of home buyers in Orange, and why the market just isn’t building what would suit them the best.

And, we find out about a new solution to the very real problem of how a brand new business gets a start when the main street shopfront rents are so high. Coming up this week, how to get a start in a converted container.

Send us Fan Mail

An Orange business, Badlands Brewery, is the latest to take up the opportunity offered by Orange City Council's decision to change zoning regulations to let niche food & drink makers move into inner-city retail areas.
And when a council office burnt down in a fire two years ago, the staff who are about to move in didn't know that the replacement building would set new standards for technology and energy saving.

Send us Fan Mail

Orange's newest set of festoon lights, hung over over a car park, are being tested on Friday night (17 Sept) for the first time.
The McNamara Street upgrade project is the first stage of Orange's FutureCity program.
And we’ll hear from the director of Orange’s regional gallery Brad Hammond to discover why the new gallery extension has him so excited.

Send us Fan Mail

This week we find out an engineer keeps local business operators onside as he digs up the footpath and roads outside their stores: An update on the upgrade of Lord Place and Byng St.
And, last year’s 'Retail Recovery' campaign that gave away a thousand fifty-dollar EFTPOS cards is coming back this year for a second round of much-needed retail therapy, but this time you can also go out of orange to go shopping.

Send us Fan Mail

Despite some popular outdoor locations being out-of-bounds during the lockdown, Orange residents are discovering how many other parks and open spaces are there to be enjoyed. 
This week how warmer Springtime temperatures are keeping the Orange City Council's parks & gardens crew busy.
And why the Orange Regional Museum is making it's next Mondays at the Museum event for children available by video conferencing.

Send us Fan Mail

The routine services Orange City Council provides every week, are being discovered in new ways while the local community is in lockdown.
Already worked your way through the entire line-up of movies on Netflix or Stan?  Did you know that a membership with  the Orange City Library gives you FREE access to hundreds of movies through two streaming services?
And even more families concerned about their elderly parents during lockdown are discovering Meals on Wheels for the first time.
But how does Meals on Wheels happen without its team of volunteers?

Send us Fan Mail

There’s a crew at Orange City Council whose work goes completely unnoticed, until you turn on a tap or flush a toilet.
But then this week, in the midst of a COVOD pandemic, their work made the news. 
And we find out what happens next after the first trees are removed, as work finally begins to build a new sporting precinct. 
The proposed precinct will be developed in a park-like setting, where even the car parks are greener than usual.

Send us Fan Mail

With the return of wet weather, pot-holes have returned to the streets of Orange in big numbers.
And with them has come a seasonal jump social media discussion with various theories about what they are there.
In this episode we hear from Orange City Council's Works Manager who reveals, the tough truth that pot-holes are inevitable.
Also in this episode, Orange feels the impact of a COVID outbreak in a neighbouring regional city.