TRC Meeting 22nd Nov 2022 report

Council meeting update

Here is an overview of outcomes from Tuesday 22 November 2022 Ordinary Meeting:

• Tonight, Councillors agreed to join Local Government NSW and the Country Mayors Association of NSW in calling for the NSW and Australian Governments to declare a Statewide Road Emergency. Tamworth Region Mayor Russell Webb sought support for the move through a Mayoral Minute which detailed the “unprecedented and unrelenting series of natural disasters” the Tamworth region has experienced in the last 12 months and the impact it has had on the local road network. Cr Webb wrote how the region’s roads as well as the road networks across the state are vital infrastructure and have sustained disastrous damage. The Councillors this evening endorsed the Mayoral Minute to support our peak bodies in their declaration of Statewide Road Emergency and for the Mayor, to write to the Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese and the NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet requesting immediate action.
• Also considered and endorsed by the Councillors to be placed on Public Exhibition this evening was the Draft Tamworth Regional Council Entrance Strategy. As a growing region and as part of future planning in line with the Blueprint 100 Strategy, the entrances into the Tamworth Local Government Area are important and should create a sense of arrival. The report says that through an audit of existing entrance signage in the region, it was evident that the existing signage is inconsistent, dated, or non-existent with our main entries dominated by fast food chain billboards and an assortment of signs. This strategy will, overtime, ensure our entrances feature signage, flora corridors with well-designed landscape

areas, and public art. This will result in the opportunity to build community pride and a vibrant entrance for residents, tourists and potential investors. This draft strategy will be on public exhibition for 28 days and the community are encouraged to review and provide feedback through MyTRC Online Community.

• The Councillors received an update this evening on the progress of previously approved properties identified for Sale of Land for Unpaid Rates and Charges. Council is permitted under the Local Government Act to sell property and recover outstanding rates and charges which have remained unpaid for more than five years. At a Council Meeting on 26 July 2022 there were originally 39 properties with outstanding rates of more than 5 years, 12 property owners have now paid their debt or arranged a payment plan with Council. The remaining 27 properties in the Tamworth, Barraba and Manilla areas still have the opportunity to contact Council to discuss payment arrangements. Failing this, Councillors have this evening adopted auction dates in March 2023. 
• Councillors this evening supported the recommendation that a submission should be made on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Dungowan Dam and Pipeline Project that is available for public comment. It was agreed that the submissions will reiterate Council’s position that the ownership and operation of Dungowan Dam should be by WaterNSW, provided the ownership of the dam is transferred as a contributed asset, and the new Dungowan Pipeline to be transferred to Council to own, operate and maintain. Also, to be included in Council’s submission will be the ongoing importance of water security to the region, the barrier to fish passage, decommissioning of the old dam and recommending that further investigation is required on, a destratification system in the new dam, the potential economic impacts to the community and several other key issues. Following this, final decision on the environmental approval by the NSW Government is not expected until the end of 2023. It is important to note, funding for the project remains unresolved.

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

Watch the video report at www.facebook.com/TamworthRegionalCouncil