Council Meeting Update - 11 March 2025

Tuesday 11 March, 2025

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

• Councillors tonight approved Councillor Marc Sutherland to attend the Closing the Gap - Partnership Working Group - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Led Review Assembly as a spokesperson for Tamworth Regional Council. The Assembly will be held in Canberra from 1 – 3 April and aims to unite various Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders, organisations, and experts to create proposals that will promote wider support for the Closing the Gap Agreement. All costs associated with attending the Assembly would be covered by the Coalition of Peaks.

• As part of Council’s ongoing commitment to Closing the Gap, Councillors tonight resolved to enter into a formal Partnership Agreement (previously named Memorandum of Understanding) with the Tamworth Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (TACCO). The partnership is the first of its kind in NSW and while not binding to either party, significantly relies on the ongoing commitments of both parties to work together to deliver Closing the Gap initiatives. To celebrate the significance of the Partnership Agreement, a formal signing event will be held later this month.

• Eleven recommendations were passed at Council as part of the Local Traffic Committee Meeting minutes. Amongst these are safety improvements to the White and Carthage Street intersection that will be installed as part of the upcoming Carthage Street Rehabilitation Project. These improvements include new line marking and the repositioning of ‘No Stopping’ signs to improve the sight distance of the area when driving. There will also be a left-turn lane placed on Carthage Street for west bound traffic and as previously endorsed, a right-turn lane along White Street for north bound traffic.

• Tonight, Councillors received and noted the report on the free-entry pool days held across the Tamworth Region this summer. The report outlined that the 24 free entry days (held in total across the pools), saw a 64% increase in patronage in comparison to equivalent paid entry days. Considering additional staffing costs, loss of entry fee income and kiosk income, these days cost Council $6883 but provided social benefits to the community. As such, a plan will be developed for inclusion of free-entry pool days next summer.

• As part of a multifaceted approach to water security, Council strongly supported a proposal by the NSW Government to temporarily increase the volume of water reserved in Chaffey Dam for Tamworth’s use by approximately 7.1 gigalitres. The proposed change will mean a short-term change to the Peel Regulated River Water Source Water Sharing Plan which requires town water to be set aside in Chaffey Dam. Further detail about the proposal is laid out in the Council report, along with other longer term water security measures being considered by the state government.
• Councillors have agreed to continue to support the Curby soft plastics recycling program as it transitions to a permanent program which requires specific bags for easier identification and processing purposes. Council will use existing budgeted funds to pre-purchase 10,000 Curby program bags to aid residents’ participation and will re-asses the program once the initial allocation of bags has been exhausted. A trial of the Curby program began in December 2022 and has diverted more than 21.3 tonnes of material from landfill.