Dungog Shire Council has welcomed the recent announcement that it will receive $264,324 for its Camping to Common Trail Connection under Round 2 of the NSW Government's Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund (BLERF).
The Camping to Common Connection provides an important linkage connecting Dungog Showground to the Dungog Common and has been identified as a key opportunity in the shire's Destination Management Plan.
Mayor of Dungog, Councillor John Connors, campaigned for this funding directly to the NSW Deputy Premier during the recent Upper Hunter by-election, and says it will provide a vital boost to Dungog's tourism economy.
"This connection trail will play an important role in helping us to attract and grow tourism opportunities for the larger Dungog community," says Mayor Connors.
"The Dungog Common is one of our most popular tourism assets for biking, horse riding and bushwalking and the Dungog Showground has recently undergone the process to enable camping for visitors to our region.
"As part of our ongoing support for the Dungog Common, council has previously resolved to include this project in its Operational Plan and this funding success ensures we can now progress this critical connection."
Mayor Connors also gratefully acknowledged the project's contributing stakeholders, who have helped to achieve this shared vision for the region.
"The Camping to Common Trail Connection is a vision shared by many key stakeholders and we are very grateful to the Dungog Common Recreation Reserve Land Manager, Ride Dungog, Dungog Regional Tourism ($40,000) and Hunter Local Land Services ($25,000) for their financial contributions and letters of support to this funding application," Mayor Connors added.
General Manager Gareth Curtis says Dungog Council is elated to receive this funding, given the overwhelming volume of applications submitted under the BLERF program.
"With so many communities like ours across NSW negatively impacted by last summer's devastating bushfires, the BLERF program was significantly oversubscribed, with $1.6 billion in applications far exceeding the $283 million available," says Mr Curtis.
"We were one of 195 community-led projects around the state to be successful in securing this funding, which is a credit to both the advocacy work done by the Mayor and to the council staff who put this application together.
"This connection will provide an important tourism linkage between key assets of the Dungog township and we welcome this funding as a significant boost for our local economy."
The NSW Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund is one part of the $4.5 billion commitment from the NSW and Commonwealth governments to support communities recover from the 2019-20 Black Summer Bushfires and strengthen their response and preparedness for the future.
