THE community will be asked what the bridge running over Mosquito Creek near Struan House ought to be called.

More healthcare closer to home and efforts to strengthen the regional health workforce will be at the centre of a new five-year plan shaping services in Naracoorte and across the Limestone Coast.

Ratepayers will foot a bill of about $760,000 for three Naracoorte Creek weirs after the construction cost blew out to more than two-and-a-half times the council’s original installation budget.

Prostate cancer patients across the Limestone Coast, including men in the Naracoorte-Lucindale district, will have greater access to specialist support after a local cancer group raised about $29,000 to expand the region’s specialist nursing service.

Naracoorte Lucindale mayor Patrick Ross has fired a blunt warning at national politicians pushing for sweeping migration cuts, saying regional Australia “needs all the help we can get” as businesses struggle to find skilled workers.