Hello, it’s Councillor Alexandria Carruthers, with you today.
So this week we had our council meeting on Wednesday. We covered quite a bit. So I’ll put the link to the minutes in the comments below, and you can have a look there and read up on what was discussed, what was looked at, and the decisions made.
But a couple of key points to include today is we had a couple of mayoral minutes moved on Wednesday. One being around financial assistance grants review and the timber trusts bridge strategy that the New South Wales government currently has on exhibition.
So, starting with the financial assistance grants, we had put in our submission for that review. The state were going to look at how that all gets distributed amongst 128 councils across the state. What that would have meant for Dungog was an extra $2.2 million dollars in our budget each year, which would go to fixing roads. So they took four days to decide that they weren’t going to proceed with that review. So that’s really disappointing. From council perspective, we’ve called for a reform on the process to continue and look at a clear pathway towards funding that better reflects council’s needs and ability to raise revenue.
And now, with regards to the Timber Trust Bridge Strategy, that’s something the New South Wales government currently has on exhibition. Council is putting forward a submission as part of that, but we’re also asking for our community to put in submissions as well, because in that strategy we’ve got the Brig O’Johnston Bridge, the Vacy Bridge, and the Cooreei Bridge. So with Brig O’Johnston, it’s currently in the strategy identified as being repaired and retained for vehicular transport access. So the questions we’re asking here is, if we’ve got our new bridge, do we need that to be a vehicle bridge or could that be a pedestrian bridge? And how does that look moving forward? Whose books does that sit on? And then the Vacy Bridge is being replaced, but we don’t know what a time frame looks like with that, and that will impact our housing and infrastructure master plans that we’ve just gone through as well. So we’re keen to get more information about that and a timeline, and then also Cooreei Bridge, which is identified as being rehabilitated and retained.
Meetings ago, it was moved from the Office of General Manager, our fair funding for Dungog campaign. So that campaign’s really focused at bringing our advocacy strategy to life, particularly with the state elections coming up, and a way that council and community can work together to make sure that those state potential elected members are very clear on what it is that Dungog needs. We’re upping the ante on our advocacy strategy, and we need our community to come along with us on this journey too, because as we know, many voices make quite a loud impact, and we really want people to understand what it is that Dungog needs, and we need our state counterparts working with us to deliver that. So, keep an eye on our socials, keep an eye on websites, share, like, and and get behind us in terms of advocacy. Roads is number one and looking at how we can get some of those roads reclassified, and to open up different funding avenues so that we can stay on top of and not just repairing them and rehabilitating them, but maintaining them-that’s a big one.
Another matter that was discussed during our meeting on Wednesday was the King Street project in Paterson. So I know that there’s been a lot of community discussion at the moment in Paterson around what’s happening with that project. We’ve taken on board, and I’ve worked with the council to discuss better ways to communicate what’s going on with that project, because we know that whilst it is a residential street, there are businesses in that street, and making sure that everyone’s communicated with and on board and aware of what’s going on, particularly as it’s our pharmacy and our doctors and their essential services.
So there’s some better communication happening on that, and I’ll include a link in the comments below, which will give you an overview of what’s going on with that project, so you know when you can access or what alternate access is available to get to the pharmacy and the doctor surgery and pathology.
And I know that another discussion has been what’s happening with the three big trees in the road reserve, so our REF has advised that they need to come out. They are causing damage, significant damage, which is disappointing. We know they’re big trees and they provide a lot of shade, and it’s not a not a conclusion you want to come to. But I can say that if we don’t take it out today, I’ve been advised that we’ll have to take it out at some point in the future. Now, with any tree removal across the shire, you have to replace it with two trees. So, for only one tree you remove, it gets replaced with two trees. So, what that means for the King Street project is that there’s been the three trees identified and a number of trees that are no longer alive that also need to be removed for public safety. So what that means is that Paterson will receive 12 trees in replacement of the removal of the trees. What I’ve also asked for is that council discuss with the people who have raised concerns about the tree removal to look at where these 12 trees are going to be best placed in Paterson. Obviously, looking at areas where they won’t have to be removed, so we’ll be ruling out putting trees in road reserves because that has obviously been the major issue here: safety for our road users, our pedestrians, and access to that area. So unfortunately, we will lose those three trees, but we will gain 12 trees, which will put us in greater stead for tomorrow.
And finally, last thing from me today, Arts Upper Hunter – I get to be the council representative to sit on that board. We’ve got a show coming to Dungog soon at the James Theatre, so that’ll be the 7th of November. It’s a show for all ages and combines miming, clowning, physical theatre, and live music all into one to create a theatrical experience unlike any other. So you get to experience that at the James Theatre, and it’s called Masterpiece. Really interesting, probably unlike anything you’ve seen before. So I would encourage you to get along to that one. It’s all ages, great one for the family, or if you just want to go along yourself, you can do that too. But that’ll be on the seventh of November, and I’ll include a link in the comments below to where you can get tickets for that one.
But that’s it from me this week. Lots of links in the comments, lots of ways to keep you updated. But if there are any questions at any time, please feel free to reach out and have a safe and happy weekend.
