THE recently revamped Fitzroy St pedestrian mall has been touted as one of council’s crowning achievements in 2017.
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Tamworth Regional Council general manager Paul Bennett listed it among the top accomplishments for the year, which he said was the biggest 12 months he’d seen at the helm.
He predicted Fitzroy St would become a heavily-used community asset like the Kable Ave playground, and the disruption caused by construction would be worth it in the long run.
“It’s like any project, I think we were criticised heavily when we had the idea and the concept of the regional playground and we sold off Prince of Wales park and said we want to invest this money into a new playground,” Mr Bennett said.
It is painful when you do these projects because it does create an enormous amount of disruption.
- TRC general manager Paul Bennett
“No one could really comprehend how and what the impact was going to be on the community.”
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While businesses on the street lamented losses they attributed to the construction, Mr Bennett said it would become a boon.
“It is painful when you do these projects because it does create an enormous amount of disruption,” he said.
“I feel for the businesses down there, but they now get the ongoing benefit of having that space at their doorstep and they’ve not had to make any additional contribution.”
Mayor Col Murray rattled-off a range of other infrastructure projects as the top council achievements in 2017.
Progressive upgrades on Manilla Rd, funding for the intermodal rail terminal and work beginning on the Northern Inland Sporting Centre of Excellence were the shining moments from his spot on council.
“I think right across Australia, the biggest issue is connectivity,” he said.
“So connectivity, be it with bandwidth, be it mobile phones, air-travel, they’re all infrastructure-type solutions and I think that’s the nature of Australia at the moment, as it moves through history.
“There’s still many other solid achievements, I guess, but we’re predominantly in that infrastructure age.”