One hundred and fifty-nine million dollars will be invested into infrastructure projects as part of City of Newcastle’s draft Budget for 2025-26.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This will facilitate the delivery of critical upgrades such as the renewal of Longworth Avenue and Minmi Road in Wallsend, the continued protection of Stockton\u2019s coastline, multimillion-dollar improvements of local centres in the Hunter Street Mall and Georgetown, along with the finalisation of the design for stage two of the Newcastle Ocean Baths upgrade and a year-round aquatic facility at Lambton Pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Total expenditure of more than $430 million is proposed across 348 projects in line with the Council’s community strategic plan to ensure Newcastle continues to grow as a vibrant, welcoming city, offering boundless opportunities for residents, workers, and visitors alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 2025-26 draft Budget and Delivery Program will go to Council on Tuesday night seeking support for it to be placed on public exhibition for community and stakeholder feedback throughout May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CEO Jeremy Bath said financial sustainability remains at the heart of everything City of Newcastle does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Our careful financial planning ensures we can continue to invest in the services and projects that matter most to our community, whilst forecasting a small Budget surplus of $510,000 for next year,” Mr Bath said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Prudent economic management has allowed us to increase our investment and services for our community without risking City of Newcastle’s track record of financial sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We have worked extremely hard to diversify our income to make our Budget less reliant on rates with 47% of our income next year to be funded via sources other than rates. This is why we will invest $2,145 per property on infrastructure projects, while limiting the average residential rate to $1,881.71.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The projects in this year’s Budget are designed to support Newcastle\u2019s growth while preserving the character and natural assets that make our city unique.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Budget highlights include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $42.2 million on road rehabilitation, resurfacing and footpaths including $24.3 million on Longworth Avenue and Minmi Road Western Corridor Upgrades<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $22 million on recreation, aquatics and sports improvements including Foreshore Park<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $12.9 million on Coastal, City and Urban Centres including East End, Hunter Street Mall, and Georgetown Local Centres<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $9.4 million on waste management and the Summerhill Waste Management Centre<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $7.5 million on street and park trees, bushland and watercourses and Blackbutt Reserve<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $6.2 million on city-wide stormwater upgrades and flood planning and management works including Cooks Hill<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $5.5 million on footpath and pedestrian projects<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $5.4 million on cultural facilities including the Art Gallery, Libraries, Museum, Fort Scratchley and Civic Venues<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $5.2 million on coastal management including Stockton coastline protection work, estuary and wetlands<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $4.5 million on affordable housing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $4.2 million on cycleway projects<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2022 $1.5 million on climate action and sustainability initiatives<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLambton Pool will be one of the big winners from this year\u2019s Budget. Not only will the old roof of the grandstand be replaced, but $1 million has also been set aside to progress the design of a year-round indoor pool as promised by the previous elected Council,\u201d Mr Bath said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLighting will also be upgraded, and a platform for both the 25m and 50m pools will be installed to improve accessibility to help all swimmers safely enter the pools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
“For the third year in a row Council will allocate $1 million to a sinking fund to ensure that when the time comes, Council has the money for the upgrading of Lambton Pool. On top of this another $1 million will be spent over the next 12 months on infrastructure upgrades at all of our five swimming pools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA second platform to improve pool accessibility will also be installed at Mayfield Pool over the winter recess break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStockton swimming pool will also get a makeover with the playground equipment, barbecues, and picnic tables to be upgraded, along with new shade structures to be installed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHalf a million dollars is included in the Budget to complete the design of the second stage of Newcastle Ocean Baths in anticipation of the development application being approved later this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lord Mayor Ross Kerridge said the draft Budget will see City of Newcastle engaging with the community to shape a Newcastle that thrives for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We recognise that our strength lies in collaboration, and we remain committed to working closely with the community to shape the future of our city,” Cr Kerridge said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I’m pleased the works program in the draft Budget has an increased emphasis on renewal and repair over new works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“We are determined to strengthen Newcastle through prudent investment in service delivery, infrastructure, public spaces, and local communities.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One hundred and fifty-nine million dollars will be invested into infrastructure projects as part of City of Newcastle’s draft Budget for 2025-26. This will facilitate the delivery of critical upgrades such as the renewal of Longworth Avenue and Minmi Road in Wallsend, the continued protection of Stockton\u2019s coastline, multimillion-dollar improvements of local centres in the … Continue reading “Council Budget continues to support growth of Newcastle”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32441,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32440\/revisions\/32441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}