TRC meeting outcomes 5th August 2025

Here is an overview of outcomes from the Ordinary Meeting of Tamworth Regional Council  5^th August, 2025:

• Councillors tonight adopted the revised Terms of Reference for Council’s Precinct Advisory Committees, following a Councillor Workshop in June 2025. These committees will cover Barraba, Manilla, Kootingal/Moonbi/Bendemeer, and Nundle/Dungowan and will focus on strategic rather than operational issues affecting each precinct. Councillors also approved the updated precinct boundaries and later this month community members, including youth, will be invited to apply for committee membership through an Expression of Interest process. Committee meetings will be open to all residents, held after hours, and rotated within each precinct. The committees will not have financial or decision-making authority but will act as advisory bodies to help shape local priorities.
• The Tamworth Regional Local Traffic Committee Meeting minutes were tonight reviewed by Councillors. The report included multiple traffic changes and event-related road closures for the Tamworth Running Festival and the Gamilaraay Language Hub opening and the endorsement of a three-year blanket approval for specific weekend road closures on Fitzroy Street to streamline event planning. Numerous parking and traffic flow adjustments were proposed and approved, including new disabled parking bays, adjusted loading zones, and upgraded signage and line marking across several key streets such as Peel Street, Kable Avenue, Bourke Street, and White Street. These changes align with the Tamworth Regional Parking Strategy, aiming to improve traffic efficiency, safety, and accessibility throughout the city.
• Councillors agreed to accept Baiada’s liquid trade waste from their new processing plant at Oakburn, Gunnedah Road into Council’s sewers, subject to negotiated conditions. Councillors were advised that Baiada had originally intended to build and operate a Purified Water Treatment Facility on the site of the new processing plant and purify all liquid trade waste for re-use in the plant, but had decided not to proceed down this path.  Instead, Baiada requested Council accept the liquid trade waste produced by the new plant into Council’s sewers.  There are 3 proposed stages to the point where the processing plant reaches full capacity and is processing 3 Million birds per week.  Stage 1 is where the new plant is commissioned and the old In and Out Street facility is closed with all processing moving from the old plant to the new facility.  Under stage 1, the volume and characteristics of the liquid trade waste discharged from the new processing plant will be the same, or better, than that currently being discharged to Council’s sewer at the In and Out Street plant.  Stage 2 is increasing production to 1.5 Million birds per week and Stage 3 is production increased to 3 Million birds per week.  Both stage 2 and stage 3 will require further negotiation and agreement between Baiada and Council before the increased volume of liquid trade waste, associated with that stage, could be accepted into Council’s sewer.
• Councillors agreed to appoint 10 Australia Day Working Group members recommended out of the 13 responses received following the broad reaching Expression of Interest (EOI) process. The successful community members are Tracey Bradbery, Anthony Byrnes, Di Hall, Kenneth Hall, Josef Hawes, Helen Lesley, Fiona Peters, Jennifer Porter, Lea-Anne Vaughan and William Weller. The working group consists of these 10 members, an additional Chairperson who is also an Independent Voting Member and Cr Matthew Sharpham who was appointed the Councillor representative. The Councillor’s confirmed that the members would serve for the term of the current Council and thanked those community members who submitted an EOI but were unsuccessful.

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