MidCoast Business Chamber has been formed following the new MidCoast Council taking economic development back in house. Formerly Greater Taree City Council had an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Economic Development (ED) with Manning Valley Business Chamber whereby they were contracted to run ED in the area instead of Council having an internal position.

 

Manning Valley Chamber saw this as an opportunity to work closer with all other business groups in the Local Government Area and potentially form a stronger group that could partner with council on ED.

 

Following initial discussions with other Chambers it was agreed to proceed with the formation of MidCoast Business Chamber.

This is the overarching Board that is purely focussed on Economic Development within the LGA.

 

MidCoast Business Chamber has eight founding members being: Bulahdelah Chamber of Commerce, Forster Tuncurry Business Chamber, Gloucester Chamber of Commerce, Harrington Chamber of Commerce, Myall Coast Business Chamber, Old Bar Manning Point Chamber of Commerce, Taree Business Chamber and Wingham Business Chamber.

 

Each ‘zone’ chamber continues to operate at grassroots level and focus on local issues plus networking etc. However, they provide one member to represent them on the MidCoast Board to discuss economically beneficial projects over the entire LGA.

 

The formation MidCoast Business Chamber is seen as a very positive step for growth in in the MidCoast economy. All zone presidents agreed that this is mutually beneficial as a major project in one area will have economic spin off in each. Being able to speak on behalf of thousands of members business instead of a few hundred has considerably more clout when seeking funding or favourable outcomes with various levels of government.