Council Connect: 22 August 2025

Published on 15 August 2025

Hello and welcome to this week's Council Connect. Alexandria Carruthers here with you today, Deputy Mayor, Dungog Shire Council.

So I'm just going to quickly get it done and update you on what's been happening. It's been a big week. We had the Council meeting on Wednesday, and then we had Senator Deborah O'Neill visit the Clarence Town Bridge yesterday. So just a quick update on that one. Since construction began in April, we've made strong progress with piling and abutments, earthworks, and design refinements to improve safety, drainage, lighting, and durability, all within budget! While challenges like hard rock excavation have cropped up, they're being managed within the existing contingencies. We were expecting potentially to have this rock situation occur. Then over the coming months, we'll be looking at in river piling and abutment works to continue, along with earthworks on both sides. Conditional approval will now be in place for the haulage over the Brig O’Johnston Bridge. So construction is moving ahead, all within plan and all within contingency and budget. So that's great to see things moving along there.

The Senator was very pleased with how things were looking and progressing. She was also very pleased that we were looking at using local contractors where needed. She also had time to chat with the crew on the ground, which was also pretty good.

Moving on to our Council meeting. On Wednesday, everyone came together, all the Councillors were there, and some of the highlights from that meeting included the planning department achievements and the Quarterly Report. We've had a strong quarter for planning, which is fantastic. With 62 development applications determined, that's up from 47 last year, so that's fantastic. And then 63 lodged in the last quarter, which is also up from 49 last year. So things are going really well there, and we're heading in the right direction. We still have a lot of work to do, but it's good to see things moving forward. The total value of approved developments in the quarter was $11 million, showing confidence and investment in our Shire, which is fantastic; it's what we want. The council's planning team is performing above the state benchmark, which is fantastic. The average lodgement time is nine days. The minister's benchmark is 14. So that's absolutely fantastic. Well done to the team there. And then the average assessment time is 97, with the minister's benchmark being 115, so that's another big win for our team. With the changes they're putting in place, we’re seeing things move forward more efficiently and effectively. It's a win win for everyone. So ultimately, we've got faster decisions happening, more transparency, and stronger support for local growth. Obviously, as a Council, we're pleased to see that, but we'll continue to monitor that to make sure it's done in a sensible way that our community supports.

The other key stand out from the meeting was the Caravan EOI decision. Some meetings ago, Councillor Ley moved a motion to call for an inquiry into the interest of a Caravan Park in the Dungog Shire. A lot of work went into that to make sure that we had the right criteria, essentially, that we were calling for interests. Unfortunately, neither of the two submissions that came through met the selection criteria. So we haven't awarded an expression of interest to move forward into those next stages with either of the expressions that came through. So essentially, next steps in that space will look like reviewing all of our options for the sites under our Strategic Property Program and Dungog Structure Plan. So that's still coming in under the work that we were doing already. And as a Council, we understand the need for a caravan park in town, and we are certainly very supportive of that, but we need to make sure it's the right thing for our town as well. We can't just do it because we need it. We need to do it because we need it and do it right! So, we'll continue to engage with community groups about possible alternative uses for Abbotts Flat, which was a part of the inquiry of interest in line with our Recreation and Open Space Strategy.

It’s also great to see that at the show ground, I’m of the understanding that they're making great progress in that space to reopen the camping there, which will be a great win for our community, as well as having everything running in a fit-for-purpose way that supports the 355 committee there. That's a key priority, as we have a volunteer group dedicated to ensuring that our show ground is fit for purpose, and meeting the needs of the community and our travelers that come to town.

So that's it from me for this week. Thank you for tuning in, and we'll catch up soon. Thanks. Bye.