The Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Awards program celebrates 30 years in NSW this year. It is the largest practical environmental program for regional NSW. More than a beauty contest, the program celebrates the real, innovative and sustainable efforts of participating rural NSW communities.

Bucketty won a Heritage Branch Cultural Heritage Award in population category A (less than 350) for its tourism signage convict wall precinct and Great North Road heritage section.

Tidy Towns assessor, Brett Currie, said: “With the recognition in 1990 that sandstone blocks were being stolen from part of a wall built by Convicts as the Great North Road, the community banded together to restore and interpret sections of the Great North Road for all to enjoy. Much work has been undertaken over the past 20 years and the cumulative effort of all the community and government groups involved is acknowledged by the recent World Heritage listing for the project.”

In Kurri, Kurri High School (school category 1) and Stanford Merthyr Infants School (school category 5) were highly commended for the Schools Environment Award.

Wollombi was third for the Overall Award in category A (less than 350) for the Wollombi Valley Projects.

Cessnock was highly commended for the Grundfos Water Conservation Award in population category E (10,001-25,000).

Peter McLean said the 2011 Tidy Towns Sustainable Communities Awards program was a huge success, with more than 300 people from right across NSW attending over the weekend.

“The awards weekend is a fantastic opportunity to recognise those communities achieving positive results for their built and natural environments, often in the face of a tough economic or geographic climate,” said Mr. McLean.