Council Meeting Update - 23 July 2024

Here is an overview of outcomes from tonight’s Ordinary Meeting of Tamworth Regional Council:

• Councillors backed a notice of motion from Councillor Marc Sutherland to support a local Closing the Gap Strategy. Tamworth Regional Council will formally endorse the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Tamworth Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (TACCO) to establish a strategic partnership aimed at supporting the development of a local Closing the Gap Strategy and enhancing service delivery across the Tamworth Region.

  Details of the MOU are yet to be explored and the partnership aligns with the relationship and data objectives of Our Community Strategic Plan endorsed in June 2022.

• The NSW Department of Education has selected Tamworth to host this year’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day event at the Sports Dome on 2 August. With the event to be livestreamed and recorded for the nationwide program Play School, Council agreed to waive the $1500 of venue hire fees using the Sports and Recreation operational budget.
• Creating a framework to meet the housing needs of the region’s community now and into the future, Councillors have tonight formally adopted the Tamworth Regional Housing Strategy 2024. A report to Council said the strategy is “not only focused on increasing housing supply but also promoting diverse and creative housing solutions” and was the result of extensive community and stakeholder consultation. The creation of the strategy was fully funded under the NSW State Government Regional Housing Strategic Planning Fund.
• Draft amendment No. 17 of the Tamworth Regional Council Development Control Plan 2010 has been adopted. A report to tonight’s meeting proposed a series of updates to the plan in response to consultation with the community and the development industry. The proposals relate to parking provisions, biodiversity and environmental protection, general building controls, the urban heat island effect, resource and waste management plan requirements, flooding controls, small-scale renewables and water reticulation requirements for Daruka and Tintinhull. The purpose of the Tamworth Regional Development Control Plan 2010 is to provide “how to guidance” for anyone proposing to undertake development in the Tamworth Local Government Area.