More money needed for truck wash

Council's plan to build a new truck wash on the outskirts of the city are currently on hold as it seeks further funding for the project.

Council received $700,000 toward the project through the NSW Government's Fixing Country Truck Washes program and had been searching for a suitable site to build the facility.

However Council's General Manager, James Roncon, said further investigation of initial scoping for the project showed that significantly more money would be needed to build the truck wash.

"Commencement of this project was initially delayed as we were searching a suitable site that would not be complicated by Native Title or Land Claims on the city's outskirts," he said.

"During that time we took the opportunity to revisit initial scoping for the project, and it became pretty obvious that $700,000 was never going to be enough to cover the costs involved."

Mr Roncon said Council has subsequently "hit pause" on the project, and will now investigate other Government funding streams to ensure it is adequately funded.

"We haven't signed the deed for the initial $700,000 grant yet as we estimate we'll need roughly double that amount to complete these works," said Mr Roncon.

Although somewhat frustrated by the delay, Mr Roncon said the approach to the truck wash shows Council is maturing in its management of projects.

"In the past Council may have just gone full steam ahead on this project without adequate funding, and then relied on the ratepayers to pick up the difference," he said.

"That's not the way we want to do things moving forward, and sometimes you have to have the courage to hit pause on a project rather than just continuing along the same path just to save face.

"It's a step in the right direction for the organisation, and shows we are learning from previous projects."