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Works on the Bight Cemetery complete
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It was reported that all 68 damaged monuments at The Bight Cemetery in Wingham have now been repaired. Since October 2021 Council have been working with the lawful interment right holders and registered parties/impacted families to undertake repairs on damaged monuments.
With this stage of The Bight Cemetery Restoration Action Plan now complete, staff will now progress to stages three, four and five.
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Tuncurry subdivision DA
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A concept development application was tabled which sought consent for the demolition of existing structures and a 32-lot Torrens title subdivision on Taree Street, Tuncurry (the former Tuncurry TAFE site). The application included a request for a variation to the minimum subdivision lot size applicable to the land. Councillors approved the application subject to conditions.
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Community Donations program
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A total of 16 organisations will receive donations totalling $32,977 as part of the 2023 Community Donations program.
The Community Donations panel comprising of Cr Epov, Cr Smith and Cr Howard met and assessed the applications on 27 April 2023.
Recipients include:
- Bobin School of Arts
- Child Care Services Taree
- Community Resources
- Cundletown Hall
- Gloucester Magpies Football Club
- Johns River Community Hall
- Killabakh Community Association
- MNC NSW Veterans Cricket Association
- Mount George School of Arts
- North Arm Cove Community Association
- Booral RFS (all the above receiving $2,000)
- Manning Support Services
- Manning Valley U3A
- Marlee Hall and Progress Association
- Forster Neighbourhood Centre is to receive $7,780 in seed funding.
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Events and Festivals sponsorship
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Sponsorship applications received during March 2023 under round one of Council’s Events and Festivals Sponsorship Policy were discussed. Councillors endorsed the allocation of event sponsorship totalling $81,950.
These include:
- NSW Rugby 7s youth state championships -u15/17s- $7,000
- NSW Rugby 7s youth state championships u11/13s -- $7,000
- Hawks Nest Triathlon - $6,000
- NSW Rugby 7s senior state championships - $5,000
- Wingham Music Festival - $5,000
- Old Bar Beach Festival $5,000
- Lakes Trail Festival - $4,000
- Lakeside Festival - $4,000
- Junior Vikings Challenge - $3,500
- Taree Rowing Regatta - $3,500
- Taree Show - $3,000
- Stroud Stockman Challenge, New Year’s Eve celebrations in Hallidays Point - $2,500
- New Year’s Eve celebrations in Taree - $2,500
- Better Together Concert - $2,500
- Bulahdelah Show - $2,000
- Stroud Rodeo and Campdraft - $2,000
- Into the Wild Concert Series - $2,000
- Killabakh Day in the Country - $1,700
- Mount George Spring Fair and billy cart derby - $1,500
- 2Bob Envirofair - $1,500
- Gloucester Open Tennis Tournament - $1,500
- Stroud Road Bash and Bang - $1000
- $500 each to the Girls Only Tri, All Abilities Tri, Bush Poetry in the Sale Yards event, Great Lakes Art Society, Manning River Dragon Boat Club regatta,
$800 for the Gloucester Festival of Cricket, $650 for the Great Lakes Pearl Dragons Regatta, $400 for the Bulahdelah Bass Bash and Tea Gardens Hawks Nest Motorfest 2024.
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| Visitor servicing in the Manning Valley |
A review of the delivery of visitor services in the Manning Valley will see Council continue to deliver services through a range of visitor idea points and mobile pop ups.
A business partnership program will be trialled which will see Council work with local businesses to provide quality visitor information. We will also continue the rollout of the visitor ideas branding to identify places of visitor information. The approval will be reviewed again early in 2024.
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| Christmas decorations in town centres |
A long-term strategy for Christmas decorations in town centres was discussed. Councillors elected to discontinue lighting displays following Christmas 2023.
This decision was made due to the high costs associated with the installation and deinstallation of the lights.
Council will continue to support the window/store display competition, themed banners where appropriate and the promotion of the timber Christmas tree and material wrap decorations to other communities.
The report indicated that there is no dedicated budget for light displays and they have been paid for by the street lighting budget, the lights need to be replaced on an annual basis, and the cost of crane hire being no longer financially sustainable.
The recommendation was originally to discontinue the lighting now, however an amendment by Councillors saw this delayed to after Christmas 2023 to allow businesses and community groups time to arrange alternate displays.
Councillors supporting the motion explained their reasoning was about equity across the local government area with Council previously providing $25,000 for Christmas lighting to a small number of communities. There was support for communities to work together to continue to deliver Christmas activities in their areas.
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| Monthly capital works projects |
A report on the major capital works underway in the transport, water and wastewater area provided updates on a number of the major projects underway, including:
- Northern Gateway, Cundletown – Industrial access road under construction, including the second roundabout. Project completion expected November 2023.
- Farquhar / Bent Street, Wingham – Intersection upgrade to offset-T commenced in April and scheduled for completion in September 2023.
- Markwell Road, Bulahdelah – Rehabilitation of 1.5km of rural road. Completed in April 2023.
- Lansdowne Road – Reconstruction of 600m of rural road continuing. Expected completion May 2023.
- The Branch Lane – Extension of 1.3km of sealed road network continuing, with scheduled completion in May 2023.
- Work is underway on six sections of The Bucketts Way, with three sections completed over the last two months.
- Wingham Road/Youngs Road – Intersection upgrade and reconstruction of 1.5km of pavement. Works continuing with expected completion in July 2023.
- Wingham Road, Kolodong – Reconstruction and widening for a 1.8km stretch of sealed road including three roundabout intersections. The project is expected to be completed in May 2023.Work is underway on a large number of projects to upgrade water and wastewater infrastructure across the local government area
- Sewer and water mains renewal projects are also underway at a number of sites in Harrington, Smiths Lake, Hallidays Point, Hawks Nest, Forster, Manning Point, Taree South, Tuncurry, Stroud, Old Bar, Pacific Palms and more.
For more details on the full list of capital works underway, see report 15.8 on agenda for the 24 May
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| Forster Civic Centre update |
An update was provided on the Civic Centre project which is now expected to be completed in September 2023. The project is tracking on the revised construction schedule that was noted by Council in October 2022. The developers, Enyoc have advised MidCoast Council they will handover the space at the end of June 2023, with Council planning to open to the community at the end of September 2023.
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