Record investment in local roads

Published on 31 July 2023

Cessnock City Council has delivered its highest annual investment in roads and capital works on record, according to the final budget outcome for FY22/23.

The figures show a record $10.9 million was spent on road maintenance in the past 12 months, an increase of 33 per cent from the previous year. Beyond the record investment in road maintenance there were also new records set for the separate capital works budget for both roads and overall capital spend.

Cessnock City Mayor Jay Suvaal welcomed the final budget outcome, and congratulated Council on its strong performance over the past 12 months. 

"Since becoming Mayor in 2021, I’ve encouraged Council to get out there and deliver even more for our community," said Clr Suvaal.

"I’m thrilled to see that in my second year as Mayor, Cessnock City Council has achieved record results for road maintenance, road capital works and overall capital works.

"I want to acknowledge the hard-working Council teams that have made this possible, and particularly want to recognise General Manager, Ken Liddell whose leadership has driven these results since coming on board in the second half of 2022.

"We’ve still got more work to do, but the figures from the last 12 months, and the results seen on the ground, show we are on the right track!"

GM Ken Liddell said the record road investment is consistent with feedback provided by residents in the recent 2023 Cessnock City Council Customer Satisfaction Research.

"Local residents have told us the importance of road investment and maintenance, and our results over the past 12 months show that we are both listening and acting through our targeted investment strategy," said Mr Liddell.

Results from the Customer Satisfaction Research included 97 per cent of people surveyed saying that maintaining sealed roads was the top priority, and 91 per cent wanting increased capital investment in roads, bridges and transport.