HUNTER leaders are calling for 'urgent support' and 'radical intervention' from the next State Government as well as a fair share of funding.
The ten council member Hunter Joint Organisation (Hunter JO) has put together five asks which they say are imperative to the region's liveability.
Leadership, transport, the re-use of mining land and returning the ratepayers waste levy to the region are key elements.
A 'please explain' is also being issued to the Minister for Transport about the distribution of roads funding across the state.
The Hunter JO has asked specifically for the release of the rationale and calculation for the distribution of funding under the Regional and Local Roads Repair Program between rural and regional and Sydney councils.
To follow that up, a commitment from the next NSW Government to equalise per kilometre funding across all areas
Chair of the Hunter JO and Singleton Mayor Sue Moore said the Deputy Premier Paul Toole told her at a recent country mayor's conference it was "the quickest way to get the money out of the door."
"Why didn't he simply allocate money per kilometre for metro and regional roads and then there wouldn't be the disparity there is now with a difference of 500 per cent," Councillor Moore said.
The initiatives on which Hunter leaders are seeking a commitment all relate to liveability for ratepayers across the Hunter and the Mid Coast, she said. "As well as calling on all candidates to support this, we are calling on all ratepayers and residents to ask their candidates these same questions because they're driving on roads, paying for waste services, using transport, it's all about them."
A hundred per cent of the ratepayers' waste levy must be returned for investment in local and regional communities, which in Singleton amounts to upwards of $1 million, and within 12 months of the election the region needs 'credible' concept and staged delivery plans for integrated public transport solutions.
"We are continually telling people to use public transport and get cars off the road and yet the connections for transport are ridiculous," Councillor Moore said. "For us in Singleton we fought long and hard to get two extra passenger service in town, and Cessnock doesn't even have one."
The need for an economic evolution which underpins the organisation's election wish list was not just about jobs for when coal mines finish up which could be 20-30 years away, but what can be delivered for jobs now. "Some of the mines approved in Singleton will still be going in 2050 so it's about jobs now, new jobs now, different jobs now."
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