{"id":213620,"date":"2018-07-13T16:10:40","date_gmt":"2018-07-13T06:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=213620"},"modified":"2020-07-30T13:42:25","modified_gmt":"2020-07-30T03:42:25","slug":"kingaroy-streetscape-put-on-hold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2018\/07\/13\/kingaroy-streetscape-put-on-hold\/","title":{"rendered":"Kingaroy Streetscape Put On Hold"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kingaroy\u2019s $8 million streetscape project has been put on hold after failing to secure a $2 million contribution from the Building Better Regions fund<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July 13, 2018<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kingaroy’s CBD upgrade has been put on hold after the South Burnett Regional Council’s bid for a $2 million contribution to the project was turned down by the Federal Government.<\/p>\n

The failure of Council’s application to the Building Better Regions program was announced on Friday.<\/p>\n

Had the grant been successful, the Council would have chipped in an extra $3 million of its own funds to build the first stage of the project.<\/p>\n

This would have been followed by a second, $3 million stage within the following two years.<\/p>\n

Late last year Council spent $250,000 to hire consultants to draw up plans for the project.<\/p>\n

Those plans, which were unveiled in March, included the creation of a new sealed car park on former railway land near Haly Street; upgrades to Kingaroy, Haly and Alford streets; and the development of a “city heart” plaza in Glendon Street.<\/p>\n

Mayor Keith Campbell said he was disappointed to hear the upgrade had received a thumbs down from Canberra.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“There will be disappointment among residents and business people who became extremely engaged with the street revitalisation process,” the Mayor said.<\/p>\n

“We were all looking forward to seeing the general character of the town being updated and its appearance getting a lift.”<\/p>\n

He said the council had made it clear during public consultations that the project was dependant on securing Building Better Regions funding.<\/p>\n

“We also acknowledged that if we were not successful we would at least have a set of plans, adopted by the community, that could be resurrected at some other time for implementation.”<\/p>\n

The Mayor said the council had many priorities for capital works, and councillors would now consider other options.<\/p>\n

“The fact remains that the streetscape, if we reapply for it at some other time, will always require grant funding,” he said.<\/p>\n

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