It will vote tonight on Maitland's Green Communities, a program that proposes to take council-run workshops to interested residents.

And the idea has merit.

Council’s development and environment manager David Simm said it had been difficult for council to attract residents to environmental workshops in the past because of work and family commitments.

The new program is designed to identify which residents are interested in certain topics and allow council staff to go to them.

This is a great idea and one that the community should embrace.

Workshop topics could include native vegetation and biodiversity, worm farming and composting, storm water management, energy and water auditing in the home, food waste, green cleaning, backyard vegetable gardens and how to host a garage sale.

This would allow residents to tailor programs to suit their needs, share ideas and to get to know their neighbours better.

Topics could be as broad as the ­community desired, so it would be up to residents to put on their thinking caps and put forward ideas.

In fact, it’s a proactive way of educating and engaging the community.

In recent years we’ve seen a number of Maitland residents express a great desire for a community garden.

The enthusiasm for this project is already there, but finding the right piece of ground to establish it has been difficult.

Maybe this program could be used as a stepping stone to bring like-­minded residents together to make it a reality in the near future.