Kempsey Shire Council general manager defends Adventure Park project after criticism

On October 27 2020, Member for Oxley Melinda Pavey announced $11.2 million in funding had been granted by the NSW and Commonwealth governments to Kempsey Shire Council for a skydiving adventure park at Kempsey Regional Airport, made possible by the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund (BLER).

The project has come under fire after a report by Michael West Media outlined the difference in funding between LNP and ALP held seats.

The Bushfire Local Economy Recovery fund (BLER) was referred to in the article as Deputy Premier John Barilaro's "pork-barrelling scheme", with only "one per cent of $177 million going to councils in Labor electorates".

The report came after the Blue Mountains Council was unsuccessful in receiving funding from the BLER despite 48.1 per cent of the area being directly fire-affected, according to the National Bushfire Recovery Agency.

Council's general manager, Craig Milburn, previously told the Argus on the day of the announcement that the idea for this type of park for Kempsey had been in the works for years.

"The idea came from two sources back in 2014, Coffs Skydiving sent a proposal to council that had the canopy piloting facility which sat on a desk. I wasn't made aware of it until we approached them with the idea for the facility," he said in October of last year.

"The other area it came from was, once I had the job (in 2018), we looked at what we could do. I've been involved with airports before and we knew there were opportunities here."

Council has since released a document detailing the background of the application, which reads:

'In July 2019 council submitted an expression of interest to the NSW Government Growing Local Economies Fund. This independently prepared application provided an overview for the Macleay Valley Recreation Adventure Park.'

The expression of interest estimated the cost of the project would be $10,189,000 and included a request for the NSW Government to supply $7,500,000 in funding for the project, before a business plan saw costs increase.

'In August 2019, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Michael McCormack and Federal Minister for Minister of Regional Services, Decentralisation and Local Government, Mark Coulton visited Kempsey and were briefed about the project.'

'A further briefing with the Federal Government then took place in October 2019. Both local state and federal MPs were briefed on the project in this period.

'In December 2019 council received formal confirmation that our application to the NSW Government Growing Local Economies Fund had been approved to move to the second stage of the application process which required a Business Case submission.

'A detailed business case was then prepared for the Macleay Valley Recreation Adventure Park by council and formally submitted in February 2020. The Business Case identified the total cost of the project to be $11,131,600. At this stage council was asking for $10,463,700.

'Separate to that application, in December 2019 council submitted an application under the Federal Government's Building Better Regions Fund. As this stream of funding required co-contribution, this application was for $7,500,000. The application identified that $2,500,000 would still be sought from the Growing Local Economies fund.

'It is common practice for regional councils to seek funding for major projects under a variety of funds.

'In May 2020 council was advised the application under the Building Better Regions Fund had been unsuccessful, as it had not met the co-contribution criteria. Specifically, as the Growing Local Economies component had not been approved at the time of submission council were found to be ineligible for funding under this stream.

'The status of these applications was reported to council throughout 2020 through the mechanism of the Quarterly Reports, specifically in the Grant Update which was tabled at the February, May, August and November 2020 council meetings.

'In October 2020 the State and Commonwealth Governments announced the new Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund to provide grants between $200,000 and $20 million for projects such as local infrastructure, tourism campaigns and regional events, workforce adaption and training programs, community wellbeing and mental health programs and neighbourhood safer places in communities impacted by the 2019-20 bushfires.

'Kempsey Shire Council was then informed in October 2020 that it had been awarded $11,283,000 under the Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund to fully fund delivery of the project, based upon its application to the Growing Local Economies fund.'

Kempsey community Facebook pages have also seen criticism surrounding a lack of community consultation on the project to which Mr Milburn offered a reply.

"The park was part of the work we did with the economic development strategy and included a range of community consultation on this particular project and how it relates to council and the community wanting to see how we can develop the airport," he said.

"Looking for alternate uses for the airport was certainly some of the feedback we've had from the community and the idea for the park was born out of some of that as well."

Other online complaints related to the living standards of people in the Upper Macleay after the 2019 bush-fires destroyed homes and land.

"There's been millions of dollars put into the areas affected by the bush-fires and we've still got more money coming, not just in terms of what we've been doing up river, but we've been upgrading the sports fields, amenities, community facilities and halls," Mr Milburn responded.

"There's been a whole series of community programs completed out there as well. In addition to that we've been doing road works, bridge works and there's still more of that to come.

"There's been a lot going into the communities and people don't understand that the BLER funding is about economic recovery, you have to use the funding for projects that create jobs, both in construction and ongoing positions."

Mr Milburn also clarified the terms of ownership for the Adventure Park once construction is completed.

"Council will be the owners of the skydiving adventure park and we will be putting out expressions of interest for management of the facility. That will happen in the first half of this year," he said.

"We will be starting construction in the middle of this year and should be finished around the middle of 2022."

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