Message from the Mayor: 9 June 2023

Published on 09 June 2023

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

On Tuesday of next week, the General Manager and I will travel to Canberra for the Australian Local Government Association Annual Conference. That conference, amongst other things affords an opportunity for us to by arrangement meet with members of the Federal Government and arrangements have been made to meet with the Federal Minister for Roads and Infrastructure Catherine King and also with the Federal Minister Kristy McBain.

The reason for these meetings is multifold but, in particular, we Dungog Shire faces serious issues arising from the recent federal and state elections. Prior to those elections, we had funding secured for three major projects. The most long standing one perhaps being the Brig O’Johnston Bridge at Clarence Town. That's a project that's jointly funded by the Federal and State Governments it’s a project that has been slow in the making for various factors, not the least of which is the requirement by Transport for NSW that the existing timber structure be retained and the insistence by Heritage NSW, that the new structure not impact on the visual appearance of the existing timber heritage bridge. As a result of that, the design and authorization process took some time. The bridge has now been designed, and that design has been approved by Heritage. So, it's reached the point where tenders could be called for its construction. The only outstanding matter is a couple of small parcels of Aboriginal land in the proposed approaches to the bridge and negotiations are currently taking place with the Worimi Aboriginal Land Council with respect to those parcels. But in part because of the time that the project has taken, the costs have naturally increased. An application had been made for just short of a further $5 million from the State and Federal governments. That application has not been approved, nor has there been any confirmation since the change of governments that the original $15 million funding is secure. Despite our repeated requests, we have been unable to get confirmation and of course without that confirmation, there is no ability to proceed with the project. So that is one of the issues that will be raised with the federal ministers in Canberra next week.

The second one is probably equally long in the tooth and that's the Clarence Town Road rehabilitation. That's a project that was originally funded when Bob Baldwin was the Local Member of Parliament. It’s a project that then got lost as a result of him not being re-elected and was ultimately reinstated. A few months ago, we were asked to defer work on that project until the next financial year. And that we did and that enabled Port Stephens Council to continue with work within their part of the Clarence Town Road. Again, we're now unable to get confirmation from the state or federal relevant departments that the funding is secure and without the funding being secure we're not able to proceed with those works. People travelling into Dungog will see that we are in fact proceeding with the stage of those works closest to Dungog town and that we have managed to use alternate funding to continue with that part of the road.

And the last of the projects is one that was announced by the by the State Government immediately prior to the state election, and that's the Betterment Funding. Again, it's a fund that's contributed to by the federal government. And from Dungog Council’s point of view, that benefited most importantly, the Suspension Bridge at Gresford. It was funding that would enable the replacement of that bridge and as those that use it know, the bridge has a very, very low load limit and the only other way of crossing the Paterson River is through a poorly formed river crossing which of course is inaccessible in times of rain. That makes it impossible for emergency services vehicles to get to the people on the other side of the river. So it was a very important project. Added to that particular project but in the same funding was money for Hooke Street in Dungog to take action with respect to the culverts in that part of Hooke Street that floods regularly. Those projects again, are on hold because there is no confirmation at all that the funding is secure.

We have attempted in all instances to ascertain from the relevant departments the security of the funding and those attempts have been unsuccessful. I should add that with respect to the Betterment Funding there is also funding for dangerous river crossings to be upgraded throughout the shire. Not only are we proposing to speak with the two ministers in Canberra next week, but we have also sought, to date unsuccessfully, a meeting with the State Minister for Regional Roads Jenny Aitchison. Those attempts as I said had been unsuccessful but we are continuing to make a request that she meet with us in order that we might put out a case as to the importance of these projects and hopefully get the funding secured.

Apart from that disappointing and annoying news, perhaps the better things, Council this week, announced the small grants program for this year and applications are open FROM MONDAY and you should go the Council's website to look for those applications and look for the criteria. Allied to that program is the Hunter Water program which seeks applications for projects that highlight obviously water within the shire. So again you'll find details of that on Council’s website and I encourage you to look and to make application if you think you can make the relevant criteria.

Work continues on the roads throughout the shire despite the pessimist that I started with, there is other funding of course that's constantly being used throughout the shire. I've indicated that work is has commenced on the approach to Dungog town. Work is continuing on Park Street at East Gresford and there will be some disruption in the coming week while the road is stabilised and ultimately sealed. Work on the bridges throughout the shire continues and of course the never-ending pothole patching continues.

On Monday last, I attended the route the NSW Annual Roads Congress in Sydney at Parliament House and that was attended by most rural and regional throughout NSW. And it became very apparent in the course of the day that every Council is having trouble with potholes. It's not with the domain of Dungog, I know we often think it is and certainly from the community's response where we're led to think it is. But every Council was complaining about their inability to cope with the inevitable potholes as a result of the weather we've had in the last couple of years. As we head into a, it will appear, drier period, I guess we can expect the roads to stand up much better and hopefully we'll have less potholes.

I think that brings me to a close for this week. So until next week. Good luck and goodbye.