Message from the Mayor: 12 July 2024

Published on 12 July 2024

Hello, I'm John Connors, the Mayor of the Dungog Shire, bringing you this week's Mayoral message.

It's been a great week for Dungog shire, in that we have received confirmation of several grant funding applications, some of which have been lodged over a long period of time.

The first of those is bringing to fruition the funding that was announced before the last NSW State Government election. That funding, regrettably, didn't arrive and we have pursued it constantly for the last 15-16 months, and now we've received the funding deed.

That funding is about $9 million in total and will facilitate the replacement of the river crossing at Gresford over the Paterson River with a concrete bridge, and upgrading Hooke Street with new culverts and a road surface that will be far more durable and better able to cope with water inundation from time to time. Hooke Street will still flood, but the road surface will be less impacted and the water will hopefully get away more quickly.

It will also facilitate work on 21 river crossings across the shire, where the approaches will be upgraded to minimise the impact of water inundation. They'll still flood, but the approaches will be more durable and there'll be less cost to Council having to maintain them, and less impact on those that have to use the river crossings after they've been flooded. So that’s a fantastic announcement, being able to proceed with those works after a 16-month wait. We’ve now got the deed which has been signed and the governments, both state and federal, are committed to the project and we're very grateful to them both.

In the course of securing that funding, several meetings were had with the State Minister responsible, Jenny Aitchison, and conferences with TransportfNSW and more recently with the National Emergency Management Agency, the federal agency responsible for the funding. So great work by all involved.

We also received confirmation of a grant of $1.9 million under the funding provisions to accelerate new housing across the state, but in our case across the shire. This $1.9 million will enable council to engage Strategic Planning contractors to carry out several strategic planning tasks across the shire. It will see the finalisation of the long outstanding Rural Land Strategy, which will then lead to an update of the Dungog Local Environmental Plan.

It will also see a Dungog Shire Housing Strategy and a Growth Management Strategy created, together with a Dungog Strategic Centre Plan. All of these strategic planning plans will set the shire up for decades to come. I can't emphasise enough the importance of these planning works. It's something that we've wanted to do for sometime but have been unable to do. The LEP was due to be updated many years ago, and due to a lack of funding and a lack of resources, that didn't happen.

This funding will enable proper planning to be carried out strategically across the whole of the Shire. It will also integrate with the current planning that's being undertaken at Clarence Town. So once all of that is complete, the shire should be set up for a long time to come so far as planning is concerned.

Also, during the week, we received advice on funding to enable council to install an electric vehicle charging station in Dungog. The funding will enable the installation of this facility near the Visitor Information Centre in Brown Street. So we'll be moving with the times and we'll have a facility in Dungog to charge electric vehicles, and hopefully that will enhance the tourism to the town and encourage those who wish to drive electric vehicles to come to this area.

We're also ever hopeful that we'll get a second grant which has yet to be determined, and if we get that, it will enable a charging station to be installed at Vacy.

So, a great week for funding and great initiatives that we'll be able to pursue.

Over recent days, there has been publicity in the Newcastle Herald and on radio stations in Newcastle because of a press release from the Department of Planning. The press release relates to the time taken to process Development Applications and portrays Dungog Shire in a very poor light.

Unfortunately, the statistics that are quoted are very raw statistics, and in many instances, are comparing apples and oranges. It’s not a true comparison. They are statistics that can be impacted and are impacted, on many occasions by applicants. Applicants who do not reply to requests for further information promptly, and who take weeks to pay the fee to commence the planning process, or government departments to whom applications have to be referred from time to time, who take time in responding. So, it's not as the article would portray Council being dilatory. There’s an awful lot of other factors that aren't taken into account in these very raw figures that are used.

It also doesn't compare the resources available to particular councils, or the number of development applications that each council processes, which again, are relevant considerations. And for us, where we have limited resources and a significant number of development applications, and a number of applicants and government departments who don't respond promptly, we are very dependent upon others. That does mean that some of the development applications take longer than they should. But that, as I’ve tried to emphasise, is not necessarily council’s delay.

On a brighter note, on the 24th of July, Council is facilitating an instruction program for prospective candidates for the upcoming Local Government Election. The elections will be held on the 14th of September, and anyone who is contemplating standing for council, I encourage them to come along to the information session on the 24th of July from 5:30pm to 9pm at the Dungog Shire Council Chambers in Brown Street.

The session will be conducted by the former General Manager of Maitland City Council, a very experienced General Manager, and I'm sure he will impart very useful information to any prospective candidates. So I encourage you, if you're thinking about standing, come along on the 24th of July from 5:30pm to the Council Chamber in Brown Street, Dungog.

 With that, I think that's it for me for this week, so good luck and goodbye.