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Register for news updatesSouthern NSW workshop forms working group
In August, Rail Trails Australia regional representative for southern NSW, Dennis Puniard, presented at and was a co-facilitator of the Southern NSW Rail Trail Workshop, which brought together 34 delegates, 18 of whom represented groups with rail trail proposals at various stages of development. The NSW Rail Trails Framework was released in June, 2022, following an assessment of two pilot projects. All subsequent projects must work within the framework but, since its release, it has not been successfully applied to any new rail trail proposals.
The framework stipulates that only councils can lease railway land, for up to 30 years so, without council support for a rail trail, it cannot go ahead. “The main issue identified at the workshop is council support,” Dennis said. “The second major issue is there are no funds available or grant opportunities from the New South Wales Government.”
One of the main outcomes of the workshop was the formation of a working party. “We’re not going to be lobbying councils, that’s up to the local committees, but we can start lobbying the state government,” Dennis said. “There’s a need for a strategy for trails, and, more importantly, the need for funding.”
Dennis’ biggest takeaway from the workshop: “The success of having all these people talk to each other, the enthusiasm, and the prospect of having four or five rail trails in southern NSW in the next 5-10 years…”
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