Gunnedah mayor: funds for hospital upgrade 'number one' on list

Cr Chaffey is seeking a meeting with the NSW premier Chris Minns and Treasurer Daniel Mookhey to ensure the necessary funding for local projects and upgrades get the green light, despite budget challenges.

Cr Chaffey announced his intention during the Gunnedah Shire Council's ordinary meeting on August 16, with all councillors in attendance unanimously endorsing the Mayoral Minute that focused on five key funding areas to be presented to the state government.

They are regional growth, housing, skills, roads and transport, and health, although Cr Chaffey said additional funds to deliver on last year's promised "master plan" of the Gunnedah hospital upgrade tops the list.

"The number one focus area for the Gunnedah community is simply making sure the shortfall to deliver on the full [hospital] master plan is in this budget," he said.

The $53 million hospital upgrade was rescoped by the state Labor government earlier this year, with a Health Infrastructure spokesperson citing "global escalation of building costs" in the construction industry as the reason.

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With the council responsible for about 2000 kilometres of local and regional roads, Cr Chaffey said money was available in the next financial year to upgrade key "pinch points".

He said some of those pinch points included flood-prone areas that would be best served by building a bridge instead of a causeway, to prevent further damage caused by rising flood waters.

"They're scattered right across the shire ... our infrastructure team at council is working on a priority list of where those key areas are," Cr Chaffey said.

The mayor said the region also needed to secure state funding so more locals could be trained-up in skilled jobs, especially in the local mining sector, where boiler makers, electricians, fitters and diesel mechanics were in hot demand.

"In the commercial space here in town, builders are a high priority [we need] to find construction workers and builders to build homes and other infrastructure," he said.

"Even in local government, like at our sales yards, we need to have tradesmen to deliver on those [projects]."

Cr Chaffey also said it would be a brilliant idea if both state and local governments worked together to build affordable houses for private investors in regional NSW.

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