Airport resolution, one way or another: What Wagga's fighting for in 2024

City councillors have outlined their goals and hopes for Wagga in the 12 months ahead, with social issues such as housing and domestic violence ranking up there with infrastructure plans and tackling growth challenges.

One that could come to fruition sooner rather than later is movement on the future of the city's airport, which the council leases from the Commonwealth.

That lease is nearing an end, and a review into Defence assets - of which the Wagga airport, being on the Forest Hill RAAF Base, is one - was scheduled to end mid-2023.

"Whatever the resolution is, there will be a resolution to the airport - or our tenure at the airport - this year," Cr Tout said.

"We were told the timeframe [for an update was] probably February. If we haven't heard anything, we'll be heading to Canberra and getting an update on where that process is at and what the government's intentions are in regards to the tenure of the airport."

Cr Tout said the year ahead is one full of opportunities as major state and national projects get under way in the city and the region.

"Over and above the normal operations there's going to be a lot of growth next year," he said.

"We'll be doing a lot of work with the state government this year and to ensure that we can have that growth in Wagga and the region, but also manage the challenges - the major one of which is the housing but also the run-up to that is also working with other stakeholders.

"We have a business roundtable [and are] working with them to ensure that through either TAFE or private providers the training that's needed for those big projects coming to town is also available to upskill our population."

Addressing the shortage of housing in the city was a major issue across the board, particularly with the arrival of those projects.

"We obviously need more houses, Wagga's growing," deputy mayor Amelia Parkins said.

"We need to get those strategic pieces in place so that we can guide, I think, what will be good development to make Wagga an even better place."

The mayor said assistance from state and federal governments will be key to tackling the challenges that come with a boom.

"Everyone has housing issues regardless, but ours is exacerbated by the growth - but it's great to have the growth that's happening," Cr Tout said.

"That doesn't mean we're after money as such, sometimes the assistance can come in the form of more efficient processes. They've already come to the party in conversations and particularly when we met with the premier earlier in the year face-to-face."

Councillors Mick Henderson and Richard Foley have eyes on the Inland Rail project, with both lamenting the lack of a bypass and committing to keep fighting for the community on the matter.

"I don't think it's ever going to be achieved, but a bypass for Inland Rail would be the ultimate answer to the issues [with it]," Cr Henderson said.

Cr Foley's goal of a housing trust is at the top of his agenda.

"We need to look at how we can utilise a rate rise for the real bit of long-term benefit of the community and I believe that that would be establishing a housing trust on the back of it, instead of just fixing some roads and then they deteriorate again in the years to come," he said.

Lake Albert remains a hot button issue, with Councillor Jenny McKinnon joining those keen to see its health restored and ease fix costs going forward.

"Our next big priority has to be around whether we can stop some of the nutrient inflows into the lake that are actually causing the blue green algae problems, and maybe help us cut down on some of the costs of treatment that the city has to bear there," she said.

Councillor Rod Kendall and deputy mayor Amelia Parkins were contacted but did not respond prior to deadline.

"Aside from continuing the good collegial atmosphere of the council ... I want to follow up by outstanding matters that haven't been completed yet [such as] the Pothole Pro machine trial.

"I want to bring forward discussions and most likely bring forward something about the housing trust concept.

"People will see how we'll be able to afford things like water parks, like other things that the public wants, but it's going to take a little bit of pain because inevitably there's going to be rate rises coming in the next term, as an absolute fact, there's no way around it.

"We need to look at how we can utilise a rate rise for the real bit of long-term benefit of the community and I believe that that would be establishing a housing trust on the back of it instead of just fixing some roads and then they deteriorate again in the years to come.

"Even though they considered it's a done deal, I still think that we need to continue to lobby and seek answers about this Inland Rail. We need to really fight for the community for this because we're being let down."

"There's a lot more challenges that need to be addressed, finalised, completed, which I'm hoping that we can achieve in 2024.

"Improve the quality, number one, of our road network and our infrastructure in Wagga, and number two, more affordable housing and more rental availability for the lower income earners, and improvement and remaining good water quality in Lake Albert.

"We need more land released to make housing more affordable, the price of land is exorbitant here in Wagga. With more land available, hopefully the costing of that will be reduced.

"A lot of the councillors when we ran [for election were campaigning on] roads and the lake, and I think they're still two out of biggest priorities at the moment. That all comes back to is getting our budget in line as well.

"It's about a $200 million backlog on maintenance on our roads - so we've got to make sure that we're looking at getting our budgets correct, which just allow us to focus on things like getting our roads fixed and getting our lake fixed for proper use as well.

"[A resolution] as a council is to basically keep doing what we're doing at the moment - we're working quite well as a group - but understanding how each others work as a group and be able to work together, not always agree but able to work in the right direction together forward at the same time and not work against each other."

"A big priority for me is seeking further progress on the koala sanctuary that I campaigned on. That's been bubbling away very much in the background this entire time, since the election. Currently the whole idea of a koala sanctuary's under scrutiny from the NSW government because they're looking at whether we might be able to get some funding for translocation of koalas. So that's still on the boil.

"I'm very keen to see the health of Lake Albert restored. I think our next big priority has to has to be around whether we can stop some of the nutrient inflows into the lake that are actually causing the blue green algae problems, and maybe help us cut down on some of the costs of treatment that the city has to bear there.

"Socially I'm very keen on working on issues around social inclusion, but in particular, I'm really concerned about the rates of domestic violence in Wagga. I'm reaching out to people around domestic violence and seeing what we can do together to try and work lowering the rates.

"My priorities are the CBD master plan and the housing strategy, and making sure that we do meaningful consultation on those two pieces of strategic planning - because now's the time. We obviously need more houses, Wagga's growing. We need to get those strategic pieces in place so that we can guide I think what will be good development to make Wagga an even better place."

" A lot of big projects [are] coming to town, so working through with them. With the SAP, there's going to be a lot of growth there with hopefully some building starting in 2024. There'll be challenges. Hopefully, we can find some form of solution or partial solutions to the housing issues.

"We'll be doing a lot of work with the state government this year and to ensure that we can have that growth in Wagga and the region, but also manage the challenges - the major one of which is the housing but also the run-up to that is also working with other stakeholders.

"I try not to call them issues or problems. I like to call them challenges. They're challenges we'll confront, and we will overcome. It's not an issue or a problem that we can't beat."

Georgie Davies

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