Council meeting update - 25 February

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

  • In an effort to improve community safety, Councillors endorsed an amended Notice of Motion to prioritise the installation of security lighting in the Town Hall Carpark facing the Fitzroy Street Café for workers in our community that use and access the car park late at night.
  • Councillors endorsed the establishment of Special Entertainment Precincts (SEPs) and agreed to prepare a Night-Time Economy Strategy to support ongoing employment, tourism and live music opportunities across the region including events such as the Tamworth Country Music Festival. A SEP is an area, street or single venue where sound conditions and trading hours are set by Council in a Precinct Management Plan. The proposed SEPs would cover the Tamworth Central Business District, as well as the Tamworth Sports and Entertainment Precinct, which includes The Longyard Hotel. Council will apply to the NSW Government’s Special Entertainment Precinct Kickstart Grant Program to support the implementation and development of the SEPs.
  • Council has agreed to endorse the business case for new stables, an eastern wing and western wing extension of Tamworth’s Australian Equine and Livestock Centre (AELEC). The business case was fully funded through a $170,000 grant under Steam One: Regional Significance through the Regional NSW – Business Case and Strategy Development Fund. The endorsed business case puts the preferred proposed enhancement of the AELEC to cost about $48.6 million. Funding opportunities through State and Federal Governments will be pursued with no financial commitment from Council at this stage. The proposed project is aligned to the vision of the Community Strategic Plan for the AELEC “to remain the national leader in the equine industry by providing world-class facilities”.
  • Councillors reaffirmed the region’s commitment to the Tamworth-Nashville Protocol in authorising Mayor Russell Webb and the Executive Manager, Creative Communities and Experiences, Peter Ross, to visit the US Sister City in June this year. Tamworth and Nashville, both global hubs of country music, signed a Sister Cities Protocol in Nashville in June 2013. The agreement set out a series of formal delegation visits between the two cities. A Nashville delegation visited Tamworth this year during January’s Country Music Festival and Tamworth’s return visit for will coincide with Nashville’s CMA Fest. The Sister City relationship not only builds potential music industry opportunities but also across the tourism and education sectors. The visit will be funded through Council’s existing Sister City budget allocation with no additional funding required. The delegation will be hosted in Nashville for a maximum of three nights and four days. The cost of the visit will include airfares, some meals and transport.
  • Councillors were pleased to appoint 46 community members to seven community committee and working groups. They include the Disability Access Working Group, Tamworth Regional Council Heritage Working Group, Tamworth Region Arts Advisory Committee, Tamworth Region Inclusive Culture Advisory Committee, Tamworth City Centre Working Group, Tamworth Regional Community Safety Working Group (CSWG) and the Urban Street Tree Advisory Group. The community members will provide advice to Council around these speciality areas from a variety of perspectives which will help shape strategies and more. The strong number of applications for these committee positions was encouraging and shows a strong desire for community involvement and interaction which will only enhance our region.

You can read the business papers for this meeting here.