According to Singleton Council’s executive director of strategy and governance, John Waghorn, the meetings are designed to help businesses improve their operations by working together and identifying common problems that need to be addressed.

A light industry cluster meeting will be held on Wednesday October 8 at the training room at the Focus on Safety building at the McDougalls Hill industrial area. A retail cluster meeting will be held on Tuesday October 14 at the training room at Pegasus in Pitt Street.

A tourism cluster meeting will be held on Tuesday October 21 at the committee room at Singleton Council in Civic Avenue.

An agricultural cluster meeting will be held on Wednesday October 22 at Whittingham Hall.

All meetings have a start time set down for 5.30pm. The survey, which was run by Newcastle consulting company, Cre8ing Growth, was conducted to help both council and businesses plan growth strategies and manage threats and barriers.

It is hoped the data will allow Singleton Council and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. to attract new businesses to fill market gaps, understand where infrastructure needs fall short, and where skills and resources gaps exist.