Mr Mitchell, a resident of the area for 27 years, is standing for council to push for a lower rates in all rating categories. 

Mr Mitchell was a member of an independent rates review group set up by council to give  community feedback on rates. 

“We put in a proposal to reduce rural rates and put it back to councillors, and they said they would look at it,’ he said.   “Then they put all the rates up 1.8 per cent.

“I had volunteered for the committee to get something done, but then I realised that you have got to be in the council to get things changed.” 

Mr Mitchell said cuts to council rates could be funded by reducing costs  as a result of better productivity, efficiency and innovation. 

His proposals include a lighting and airconditioning audits at council buildings to reduce power bills, together with use of solar power – even photovoltaic cells in the carpark to get costs down. 

Mr Mitchell says council could also save money by reducing outsourcing, for instance establishing its own facility for work such as cement batching. 

Spending on non-necessities such as the public artworks from Sculptures in the Garden, could also be cut, he said. 

Mr Mitchell also called for council to plan for higher density housing, which would reduce the cost of providing infrastructure to sprawling developments. 

“Once the coal mining is finished, our urban sprawl will become an economic ghetto and there won’t be a soft landing,” he said. 

Mr Mitchell said an an ungrouped candidate he would owe no favours to any other group or councillor. 

“There are niche groups within council who push their own agenda,’ he said.  “I will fight within council to benefit all ratepayers.”