Funding boost for Scone CBD project

THE State Government has funded $2 million towards construction of the ‘Green Space’ St Aubins Town Square, as part of the Scone CBD Revitalisation Project.

The funding is part of the NSW Government’s $250 million Public Spaces Legacy Program which aims to give local councils a financial incentive to improve their development application processing times.

Upper Hunter Shire Mayor Maurice Collison thanked the government and said he looked forward to getting more money into the Shire.

“There’s $11 million in the bucket at the moment, great news to see the St Aubins Green Space get some funding. I just can’t wait to get the shovel in the ground and move on and get that project up and going,” Cr Collison said.

“It’ll still be a while yet, Council has put the designs forward and out for public consultation . . . we listened and now we’ve got that passed. I’d say next year you’ll see some dirt starting to move,” he said.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro said Council received the funding as a reward for meeting their targets and today’s announcement was “business as usual.”

“There’s an opportunity for Councils to go through E planning to fast track DA’s and what were asking regional areas is to reduce it from a 48 day average to a 38 day average.

“The Minster for Planning has put out incentives out there across the state and it’s great to see Councils actually stepping up,” he said.

“Congratulations to the Council for the work that it’s done, the work that it does in relation to fast tracking DA’s and improving the timelines around them. The reward for that is a $2 million investment,” he said.

“We continue to turn up, we continue to make investments, it’s not just on the eve of an election, it’s business as usual,” said Mr Barilaro.