TAMWORTH could be in line for further growth, as the city prepares to position itself for a City Deals funding initiative, worth more than $50 million.
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The City Deals program is a federal initiative, delivered with state and local government assistance, aimed at taking pressure off the capital cities and promoting growth in regional Australia.
An expression of interest process will be opened in March or April next year, calling for regional cities to apply for funding.
Tamworth Regional Council mayor Col Murray said the City Deals program is “very high on council’s agenda”.
“We have had our first meeting and had preliminary discussions on City Deals,” Cr Murray said.
“We will have a report to council in the not-too-distant-future.”
If council was successful in securing a deal, Cr Murray said there would be a huge amount of money invested into the region.
“We’d be looking at contributions from all three levels of government and we’re talking about in excess of $50 million and up to $100 million.
Cr Murray said the aim of the program is to “relieve pressure off capital cities”, which he said are growing at an unsustainable rate.
The mayor acknowledged Tamworth itself is already growing at a rapid rate and said some improvements were needed to allow further growth.
“As long as there are jobs and enough infrastructure is there,” he said.
The mayor said a City Deals investment could mean progress in a number of sectors including an airport upgrade, road projects and sporting facilities.
While the program is high on council’s agenda, Cr Murray said he was “hopeful rather than confident” with a number of cities already putting in work for the City Deals program, including Toowoomba, Ballarat and Shepparton.
Cr Murray met with the Assistant Minister for Cities, Angus Taylor, in Canberra last week as part of a Regional Capitals Australia (RCA) delegation.
Cr Murray is the deputy chair of the lobby group, which counts about 30 councils from across regional Australia as members.
As part of the Canberra trip the RCA delegation met with Victorian independent Cathy McGowan and representatives from Opposition Leader Bill Shorten’s office.
“It’s not a political group,” he said. “Regional cities need representation irrespective of who is in government.”