THE TINGHA tug-of-war is finally over.
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Armidale Regional Council voted to support a boundary adjustment that would put the town firmly in the hands of Inverell Shire Council at Wednesday’s meeting.
Councillor Ian Tiley had approved the move when council was still under his administration.
“This recommendation is very similar to the resolution adopted by the council over a year ago – I respect the fact that when you became mayor you sought further information,” he told mayor Simon Murray.
“We took more surveys particularly of the people in the town of Tingha and it’s clear that this is what the majority want.”
Armidale and Inverell councils will now go into discussions to deal with rates and charges for parcels of land affected by the adjustment.
If the two cannot come to an agreement, the issue will go to the Minister for Local Government.
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Tingha Citizens Association president Colleen Graham said it’s been a long journey but the community is thrilled.
“Just knowing it’s going to happen the community will be quite content to wait now until we have something more concrete,” she said.
“I think people have been running scared about the rates situation, but you get what you pay for –what people don’t realise is when the amalgamations happened councils weren’t allowed to touch rates for four years, there’s only another two years to go.
“I think residents will be pleasantly surprised, they won’t be rated off their land and we’ll get a fair go where we’re headed, I thank ARC for doing that.”
Both councils will be responsible for the cost of moving Tingha to Inverell, with no contribution from the state government.
Armidale mayor Simon Murray said he’s always supported the move provided the majority wanted to go.
“Because there’s a different rating structure the two councils have to work out an equitable result for people moving to Inverell,” he said.
“I hope the two councils can work together.”
The proposal will move approximately 800km2 of the Tingha village to Inverell, after the Tingha Citizens Association Inc moved to have the boundary adjusted in 2016.