The Forest Hill Community Group had its first official meeting last Friday where resident Richard Salcole was elected president. He said that the idea grew from the feedback he received during his tilt at a seat on Wagga city council.

"When I ran for council I found that there were a lot of people in the community that were interested in actively finding out what was happening in the community, being part of a community, but there was no real medium for that to happen," he said.

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The residents of the area feel that some of their concerns are not heard by council powers and as an outer suburb, they get left behind, said Mr Salcole.

"When you look around Wagga, we have a number of villages. Forest Hill was officially counted as a village until about 15 years ago ... we've sort of lost our status," he said.

"We looked at it, everything is happening around the CBD, we've lost our voice."

The Wagga Residents and Ratepayers Association president Chris Roche said it's important for residents to get involved in their local community groups.

"It's really important, people can go to council speak on their own. But if you go with the backing of a residents group it gives you more credibility and makes councillors stand up and listen," he said.

"I think it's important that all groups come together and have a combined voice, and a bigger voice when it comes to council.

"This can help council improve what they're doing."

Mr Salcole said in recent years the suburb has lost its community hall and its tennis club and the newly formed group plan to come together to lobby council to generally improve conditions for residents.

But more than anything, the group wants to foster a sense of community, he said.

"We wanted to revitalise the community out there. By having a community group that's actively able to participate with events, talk to council, the plan is we can get the community coming back together again."

"Our plan is to have social events as well ... it's a matter of getting the community to come out of its shell and for council to recognise that there is a community out there that wants to do things."

The Forest Hill Community Group will meet on the first Friday of the month at Forest Hill RFS brigade shed at 6.30pm.

The Wagga Residents & Ratepayers Association monthly meeting will be held at 6.30pm Wednesday 6th July at the Wagga Wagga Boat Club.

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