Narrabri Shire Council has reported a surge in developer interest in the area, with $29.5 million of applications assessed in the financial year to March.
The figure was revealed in the quarterly report of the operational and service plan at last Tuesday afternoon’s extraordinary meeting of council.
It is an almost $11m improvement on the previous financial year.
Council’s general manager, Stewart Todd, said the massive number was an indication of the investment and interest in Narrabri Shire.
“Council has been enthusiastic about upcoming opportunities for some time now, with a number of large and varied projects setting the shire on a trajectory of unprecedented growth,” Mr Todd said.
“It is pleasing to be able to show the community solid figures that clearly demonstrate this growth is in fact here and happening.”
“All of the applications that have been assessed have been done so while staff juggle managing other major projects such as the Northern NSW Inland Port, multiple flood and heritage related studies, as well as working with the NSW government on Special Activation Precinct investigations,” council’s general manager Stewart Todd said.
Mr Todd was extremely pleased with the numbers presented at last Tuesday afternoon’s special meeting of council.
“The figures accurately reflect the volume of work and effort that council’s planning department have been managing over the past nine months,” he said.
The report presented to elected members said 238 applications had been assessed in the current financial year up until March 2021.
The target of ‘greater than 200’ applications was surpassed with another quarter of reporting for this financial year to go, the report noted.
In the 2019/2020 financial year, council determined 182 applications totaling $18.4 million.
Cr Ron Campey moved a motion that council adopt the latest report.
The motion was seconded by Cr Maxine Booby.
Cr Booby made note of the assessment figure mentioned in the report as well as council exceeding its target for successful grant applications.
Council set a target of $6 million in the value of council and community grant applications submitted and achieved $42,771,641.
This figure includes council’s success in securing funding from the NSW government for stage one of its proposed Northern NSW Inland Port development.
Other achievements noted in the operational and service plan quarterly report include council’s success in running Australia Day events across the shire, organising the Lillian Hulbert Scholarship, Seniors Festival and awards as well as an International Women’s Day event.
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