Both Armidale Regional Council (ARC) & Glen Innes Severn Council (GISC) can now progress towards signing their grant funding deeds.
ARC had been awarded $5.4M from the Black Summer Bushfire Recovery Grant. GISC had been awarded $8.7M from the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund.
Background: Following detailed reports provided by NSW Public Works & Regional Development Australia Northern Inland (RDANI), ARC has proposed that their first section be built from Armidale Railway Stn to Dumaresq Railway Stn – a total of 9kms.
Approval to proceed on this proposal was achieved at an Extraordinary Council meeting on 13/5/24.
Included in the 8 point motion approved during this meeting was: “That council agrees to the timetable outlined in the NSW Public Works NERT Project Program, including design, community consultation and works with suitably qualified people to investigate the practicality within the available $1 million contingency budget of constructing the trail from Armidale to Dumaresq Stations without removing the rails and, if impractical, storing the rails for potential future use”.
GISC held an Extraordinary Council meeting on 16/5/24, when council staff were also given the green light to proceed with GISCs first section of the New England Rail Trail. This new proposal is 22kms in length from Glen Innes to Glencoe.
Once negotiated & approved by the funding bodies, both councils can then commence survey & design requirements to obtain approval under the NSW Rail Trails Framework.
Grant funding applications to complete further stages between Glen Innes & Armidale have been submitted.
The Minister for Regional Transport & Roads will be visiting the region in early July 2024.
