Branxton RSL Sub-branch president Brian Furner said the two towns needed to be linked in some way.

He said due to the small size of the towns, many sporting groups were spread across both Greta and Branxton.

Mr Furner also said there were a lot of services and facilities that were available in one town but not the other, such as businesses, swimming pools and sporting fields.

He said the busy New England Highway made it hard for people to cycle across the stretch in between.

But now the Hunter Expressway has taken some pressure off the road, making it a safer place for a cycleway.

Mr Furner said they wanted the cycleway to be 4.5 kilometres long, which would stretch from Branxton Rotunda to Greta Rotunda.

The project will also be a tribute to the proud military history in Branxton and Greta.

Mr Furner said 283 people from Branxton and Greta enlisted for World War I, when the population was only about 500 people.

“That was a really significant milestone in the history of Branxton and Greta,” he said.

Mr Furner said they wanted the 283 trees planted alongside the cycleway in honour of those soldiers.

The project was supported by Cessnock Council, but funding was never achieved.

Council submitted an expression of interest to fund the project through the 2014 Resources for Regions program but the submission was unsuccessful.  

Another expression of interest was submitted for the Hunter Infrastructure Investment Fund in 2015, which was also unsuccessful.

The project, which council valued at approximately $2.5 million, was submitted to Regional Development Australia for consideration for inclusion in the Hunter Regional Plan 2016-2020.

Council also adopted the Cessnock Cycling Strategy in 2016 which identified cycleway projects in the Cessnock including the Greta to Branxton Cycleway.

Mr Furner said he believed council needed to make the project a high priority in order to attain funding.

He said they planned to meet with Cessnock and Singleton Councils in the near future to discuss the project.

Mr Furner hopes to have the entire project funded by the Resources for Regions program, but said they needed both councils’ support to do that.