Council Meeting Update - 24 October 2023

Tuesday 24 October, 2023 

 Here is an overview of outcomes from tonight’s Ordinary Meeting of Tamworth Regional Council:

• A total of $63,456.00 will be shared among 24 organisations and 76 schools across the region through Council’s 2023-2024 Annual Donations Program with a balance of $10,717.10 to be rolled over to the 2024/2025 Annual Donations Program. Councillors at tonight’s meeting endorsed the recommendations made by the assessment panel comprising Councillors Helen Tickle, Judy Coates and Brooke Southwell. A total of 33 applications were received seeking amounts ranging from $500 up to $9,260.00. Under the program, recurrent funding of $1,000 is also provided to North and North West Community Legal Service Inc. There is $4,560 being shared among the 76 schools and pre-schools in the Tamworth Region for their end of year school presentation book award prizes.
• Councillors tonight authorised a number of actions to allow subdivision of future stages at the Tamworth Global Gateway Park at Westdale. They included giving formal approval for the General Manager to act as the landowner for the purposes of submitting a development application for Stages 4 to 12 of the development. Council is developing the 246ha site as industrial and commercial land. It is also the location of the Tamworth Intermodal Freight Facility which will soon start operating. Stages 1 and 2 have been developed and subdivided while the Stage 3 subdivision is in the final stages prior to registration. All are part of phase 1 of the development. Phase 2 includes Stages 5 to 8. The report said sales of land within Phase 1 have been strong with $7.6 million in sales revenue received on settled contracts and a further $6.4 million of sales revenue awaiting the settlement of exchanged contracts. “Strong enquiry for land within Phase 2 continues to provide confidence in the long-term viability of the development,” the report said.
• A separate report was tabled at tonight’s meeting about the proposed road names for the Tamworth Global Gateway Park’s Stage 3 subdivision. Councillors supported the recommendation for the names to follow the previously agreed name theme in the Australian Aboriginal Kamilaroi language for flora and fauna local to the area. The names approved in principle are Dhulii (sand goanna) Drive and Gilaa (galah) Circuit. A senior Elder and representatives from the local Kamilaroi community are part of the Tamworth Global Gateway Park Aboriginal Road Naming Working Group.
• Council staff proposed the reintroduction of cash payments at the Forest Road Waste Facility in response to ongoing requests from customers to reintroduce cash payments. Councillors commended staff on listening to the needs of our community and agreed to approve the reintroduction of cash payments and close the Forest Road Waste Facility at 4.30pm, instead of 4.45pm to allow staff to manage this additional process. Councillors also commended staff on working on the introduction of electronic payments at all of Council’s rural waste facilities by the end of the calendar year, recognising this has been a source of frustration for our rural customers.
• Councillors have approved additional funding to the value of $150,000 towards the Treloar Park Tennis Redevelopment project. The additional funding will be spent on landscaping including trees, topsoil, turf, irrigation and balustrades. These additional items will not only ensure the facility is finished to a high standard at the completion of construction, but is also safe and easy to maintain. This additional contribution from Council supports the significant additional contributions already committed by West Tamworth League Club and Tennis NSW to ensure a great outcome for the project in spite of growing costs in the construction industry since the project was first budgeted in 2018.

For more information, see the full reports at www.tamworth.nsw.gov.au/businesspapers

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