Tamworth Regional Council roads left out of first round of state government's priority take-back program

The council has requested numerous local roads be handed back to the state to relieve the burden on ratepayers and open up funding opportunities.

Rural roads such as Werris Creek Road, Ogunbil Road, Nundle Road, Rangari Road and Lindsays Gap Road are all on the list to be palmed off.

During the 2019 state election, the Coalition promised to transfer up to 15,000 kilometres of council managed roads back to the state government.

But the NSW Government Independent Panel's Interim Report into road classification and the transfer of regional roads to state ownership released this week shows just over 391 kilometres of road met the government's criteria for priority take-back.

The council's infrastructure and works manager Murray Russell said council requested transfer of roads where potential upgrades are impacted by existing funding arrangements.

"These roads include Werris Creek Road, Ogunbil Road, Nundle Road, Rangari Road, and Lindsays Gap Road," he said.

With the full round of applications for road reclassification to open at the end of the month, council is hoping for a better outcome next year.

"We accept the response from the NSW government regarding the Interim Report, and wait to receive their full recommendations next year," he said.

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The only roads in the New England North West that got the tick of approval for reclassification in the interim report are within the Moree and Armidale local government areas.

Moree Plains Shire roads Edward Street, Jones Avenue and Frome Street will be reclassified from local to regional.

The Kempsey to Armidale Road was also granted approval to be reclassified from local to regional, but an application to reclassify it to a state road was denied.

Minister for Regional Transport and Roads Paul Toole said the interim report identifies the most urgent roads priority transfer and sets a rigorous, evidence-based roadmap for the main round.

"We're starting the process of transferring some of these roads to state management, which will open up a much larger pool of resources," he said.

From Monday, September 27, councils will be invited to submit proposals for reclassifications in the main round.

Applications that did not advance in the priority round will be able to be re-submitted in the full round.

Following the full round of submissions, the panel will provide a final report to government with recommendations for transfers and reclassifications as well as recommendations on areas of road maintenance policy.

The local government sector is currently responsible for around 80 per cent of NSW's 163,000 kilometres of roads.

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