Message from the Mayor: 26 July 2024
Published on 26 July 2024
Hello, I'm John Connors, the Mayor of the Dungog Shire, bringing you this week's Mayoral message.
As I'm sure many of you heard during the week, there was once again an incident at the Brig O’Johnston Bridge at Clarence Town. This bridge is owned and controlled by Transport for New South Wales, however, Council assisted in providing personnel at the time of the incident. Fortunately, there was no structural damage to the bridge and after its inspection by TransportfNSW, it was able to be reopened after about two hours.
This again highlights the need for the new bridge and many have asked what's happening with the new bridge. Tender documents are being finalised and it's hoped that they will go out during August. It's then hoped a contract can be issued for the design and construction of the new bridge before Christmas. But that of course will be dependent upon the new council, after the elections in September, but that's the current planning.
Still on bridges, those that are in the neighbourhood of the bridge over the Paterson River at Gresford would have seen some activity during the week with the funding deed having been executed by council for the funds to, amongst other things, replace the river crossing over the Paterson River with a concrete bridge.
Geotechnical works have commenced preparatory to preparing tender documents and it's hoped that those documents will be issued in October or thereabouts calling for tenders, and again it’s hopeful that tenders might be accepted before Christmas or before the end of the year with hopefully the replacement concrete structure being in place before the end of 2025.
Martins Creek Quarry has again been the subject of much comment during the week and the conciliation process has now come to an end with no agreement being reached. The matter will now go back to the court and will ultimately be given a hearing date in due course. So I have no further information at this stage but I think in coming weeks, we'll see a timetable set for the matter to proceed to a hearing.
Council’s position has not changed and that is that the material from the quarry should be transported by rail and only local deliveries should go by road, thus minimising the impact on the community and particularly the village of Paterson.
During the week I have been conducting ‘Meet the Mayor’ sessions around the shire and today between 4 - 6pm I'll be at the Clarence Town School of Arts. So if anybody wishes to come and talk to me about issues, about ideas, about anything at all relating to the Shire, please drop in at the Clarence Town School of Arts between 4 - 6pm this afternoon, Friday afternoon. I’ll then be in Vacy at the General Store next Wednesday, 31st July.
Next week is Local Government Week and once again, as part of Local Government Week, council will be giving away tube stock trees. These trees can be collected from council’s Administration Centre from Wednesday 31st July or from Clarence Town Post Office or Riverdene Nursery at Allyn River Road at East Gresford. From Riverdene Nursery they can be collected on Friday next week between 9am and 3pm and the other centres during the normal operating hours.
There's a maximum of three trees per household. So avail yourself of this opportunity, if you want some native trees, pop into Council or the other centres I've mentioned during next week after Wednesday and collect your trees.
The Clarence Town Structure Plan is moving forward and as part of that process, there will be community consultation. That community consultation will take place in two sessions on Tuesday 13th August. The first session will be from 1- 3pm and the second from 5 - 7pm. Both sessions will be held at the Clarence Town School of Arts. So if you're part of the Clarence Town community, this is your opportunity to come along and hear what's proposed and express your views, your thoughts, on how Clarence Town and the surrounding areas should be developed in the future. So don't forget Tuesday 13th August. Further details will be on council's Facebook page and website.
The Rural Lands Strategy is front of mind for many people throughout the shire. The strategy stalled previously because council didn't have the resources to further proceed with the matter. Council didn't have and couldn't engage a strategic planner but that situation has now changed. Council has been able to engage a consultant strategic planner and that can occur as part of the $1.9 million the council has received for planning and housing strategies across the Shire.
So the Rural Land Strategy will be proceeding and there will be community consultation. Don’t fear, everybody will be given an opportunity to express their view. You may have already done that in the past, but there'll be a further opportunity to express your view as the matter proceeds. It's highly unlikely that there will be any community consultation before the Local Government elections on the 14th of September because of the pre-election procedures. I would think, and this will be a matter for the new council to decide, but I would think in October once the new council is on foot it would be keen to move forward with the Strategic Plan and have community consultation as quickly as possible.
Road works continue. Stroud Hill there is traffic control in place and only one lane is available. That work will continue for some time so take care.
Durham Rd at Gresford to East Gresford the works there continue on the top section of the road and again, traffic control is in place. There'll be some minor delays, so again take care.
Allyn River Rd there will be some delays there because of the width of the road whilst roadworks are taking place. Again, traffic control is in place, please be patient and expect some delays.
Work continues on the Prince/Queen Street Tucker Park area of Paterson and that work will continue during the weekend. Whilst the works continue, access to Tucker Park can only be gained from the main road and not from Queen Street.
So I think that's it from me for this week. So until next week, good luck and goodbye.