Council’s active travel plan was earmarked for almost $12 million from the NSW government in January and staff have since identified five routes for funding, which will be presented to councillors at Monday night’s meeting.

The major routes would run along Red Hill Road, Kooringal Road, Bourke Street, along the main city levee and through North Wagga. A Kapooka link would see a path run through the Silverlite reserve and the university link would pass under the Olympic Highway.

However, the question of what to do about the Forest Hill link remained up in the air after years of opposition to the proposed Wagga Rail Trail from landowners.

According to the staff report, “the use of the rail corridor for the Forest Hill link would be the best outcome for the alignment for the eastern route”. However, the report conceded that NSW government approval for the use of the corridor was not likely to be forthcoming and recommended a southern route that was 1.25 kilometres longer.

Rail trail chief Lisa Glastonbury said council had one chance to get the project right and transform Wagga into a city for the future.

“(We are) looking forward to the $11.7 million active travel plan taking a significant step forward next week… the community has consistently demonstrated its overwhelming support for these kinds of trails,” Ms Glastonbury said. “We have a view that the disused rail corridor provides the best alignment for the link from the CBD to Forest Hill; the rail corridor provides the safest and most direct route.”

In a letter to council dated May 16, Owen Plowman from Bicycle Wagga Wagga wrote that there was “overwhelming support in our community” for the rail trail.

“Along with BWW’s membership, there are over 1000 members of Wagga Rail Trail,” he wrote. “There is support from RAAF Base Wagga and all the schools… also businesses along the route have recognised the potential of tourism and recreational dollars.”

Councill Rod Kendall welcomed the report, calling the dedicated bicycle routes a good concept, but cautioned against thinking of the Forest Hill route as a rail trail.

“I think this is a great opportunity for council to do something through the grant that we could never afford out of our own funds,” Cr Kendall said. “There are two or three options for the (Forest Hill) route, we’ll get clarity in the very near future. Mr favoured route would be to keep it as close as possible to the industrial area so people who work in the east can use it too.”