Deputy Premier Troy Grant visited Wellington to discuss the Fit for the Future reforms with council as well as the Cobbora Restart NSW funding of which Wellington is set to benefit.
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Mayor Rod Buhr had been keen to speak to Mr Grant about the future of Wellington Council as it looks to avoid amalgamation with Dubbo.
“We will be talking about fit for the future and where he sees it going. I’m sure he may have heard the issue of jobs and loss of local jobs and we will have a frank conversation about that,” he said.
During his visit Mr Grant said the state government was still committed to not forcing merges, adding the clear message from the independent review was that it was not a one size fits all approach when it came to councils being sustainable.
“It is definitely their own future,” he said.
Mr Grant said he was keen to see what the needs of Wellington were during his visit.
“There has been an undervaluing of what can happen here in communities about this size of 5-7000,” Mr Grant said.
“Wellington is an example of lots of towns across NSW and it helps to have a community like this near Dubbo to draw parallels.”
He said that if re-elected in the upcoming 2015 state election (when Wellington becomes part of the Dubbo electorate), he would be using his direct leverage to ensure Wellington was well represented.
This follows his announcement this week with premier Mike Baird that $6 billion would be directed to regional infrastructure as part of the NSW Government’s $20 billion Rebuilding NSW plan.
This includes $3.7 billion for regional roads and bridges, $1 billion for water security projects, $400 million for country rail, $300 million for regional health, $300 million for regional schools and $300 million for regional tourism and environment projects.
Mr Grant said this would all be very relevant to Wellington whether it be with regard to the railway or tourism with many venues such as the caves and as conversations continue for a Wiradjuri cultural centre.
His visit coincided with the public exhibition of Council’s draft CBD beautification plans.
The beautification is part of the NSW Government’s $20 million Restart NSW Cobbora Transition Fund which is funding
$350,000 for the upgrade of Wellington CBD building facades
$338,639 for the upgrade of Wellington Showground
$800,000 for the Rygate Park development
$700,810 for the redevelopment of the Wellington CBD
$740,000 for new cabins and landscaping at the Wellington Caves Complex
Following the release of the draft beautification plans, they are set to be finalised on December 17 at Council’s next ordinary meeting.
