BANCROFT: A consultant who’s helping Bancroft with its economic development plan says the town should get “top marks” for its work.
Malcolm Hunt praised council and staff upon release of the Making Our Future Action Plan mid-progress report. The report, released at last week’s council meeting, is considered a blueprint for development.
The report analyzed progress on 20 different objectives and classified the level of progress made on each one.
Seven objectives were put into the “significant progress made” category, including some related to building business growth downtown. As an example, the report said the town has made significant progress on a recommendation to work more closely with the Bancroft Business Improvement Association.
Hunt also said the town shouldn’t be concerned that eight council initiatives were put on the “limited progress made” list. As an example, the report said not much work has been done on a plan to promote Bancroft Community Airport.
Hunt said the pandemic altered many plans, meaning that making huge progress on every objective wasn’t possible.
He said council is doing the right thing, by focussing on how it can take advantage of what it has here, instead of just hoping new businesses will move to Bancroft to support growth.