Tamworth Regional Council's $2.5 million 'Entrance Strategy' gets green light

On Tuesday night, councillors gave the tick of approval to the proposed 'Entrance Strategy' designed to visually enhance the signage for both visitors and locals.

The strategy includes the construction of various signs, floral corridor enhancements, and public artworks to replace the "terrible" and "disjointed" entryways currently greeting motorists.

While the estimated cost of the plan reaches nearly $2.5 million, councillors agreed to seek funding from the federal and state governments, and said it will ultimately be worth it to give the Tamworth region a "wow factor".

"It's a lot of money to be spent. I appreciate the fact we're going to seek grants to do that, but I think it's really important both for Tamworth and all the towns and localities and smaller villages within the greater region. They need an uplift as well and I think this provides that," Cr Bede Burke said.

"We just need to remind people that this is just enabling us to be 'shovel ready' so we can apply for grants as they come up," Cr Judy Coates said.

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Cr Phil Betts spoke in favour of adopting the strategy at council's meeting.

"It's been a long time coming, this strategy, and it's something I think will set the scene in the future as far as marketing our region. I understand there's no funding at this stage for the implementation of the program but it's a really good direction of where to go," Cr Betts said.

Cr Coates agreed with Cr Betts that the signs are in desperate need of an update, especially in more rural areas.

"Our current signage is, in a word, abysmal ... a lot of the numbers are out of date. For example, Moonbi's still says 500 residents but in actual fact it's got over 1200 now," Cr Coates said.

Cr Marc Sutherland said it's "great to see more weight" put on developing floral corridors and public artworks as a result of the strategy, and commended the inclusion of an Acknowledgement of Country on every new sign.

"Growing up as a young person across the region one of the conversations I always had coming back into town was, wouldn't it be great if we could have that recognition on the signs?" Cr Sutherland said.

"To have that consistently embedded in our entrance strategy I think is a monumental step forward, and something that really cements the proud identity of Aboriginal people across our region."

The strategy estimates a cost of $1,918,572 for new signage, $116,675 for planting trees to create flora corridors, and $444,500 for new public art installations.

There has been no money set aside for these projects, and council has agreed to seek funding opportunities.

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