A much-needed upgrade on Government Road, Weston is among five projects that are earmarked for completion this financial year using funds from the Australian Government's Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program.
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Cessnock City Council received $1,065,399 from the $500 million program, which is designed to support jobs and the resilience of local economies to help communities bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The funding is available for local road and community infrastructure projects that involve the construction, maintenance or improvements to publicly-accessible council-owned assets.
Council endorsed a list of five key projects at its July 15 meeting, and these will now be submitted to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications for approval.
The projects include rehabilitation works on Government Road, Weston ($300,399); the third stage of the Branxton Town Centre revamp ($330,000); the Cessnock Performing Arts Centre back stage access project ($200,000), and improvements to the Weston Public School precinct ($150,000) and Hunter Valley Visitor Information Centre ($85,000).
Cessnock mayor Bob Pynsent said he looks forward to seeing these projects get underway.
"Each of these projects will benefit our local community in some way, whether it be improved accessibility, visual amenity or safety benefits," he said.
Council will need to complete these projects by June 30, 2021 to receive the full amount of allocated funding.
At the same meeting, council endorsed a list of six projects that it will submit for funding under the latest round of the NSW Government's Resources for Regions program.
Cessnock will receive an allocation of $1,312,198 under that program's recently-overhauled funding model.
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