What the council is working on
Recent deliveries, what's underway now, and what's planned next — drawn from the council's own plans, budgets and project pages. We report what the council has publicly said it's doing; every item links to its source.
The council's stated direction
Balranald's direction is set out in a ten-year Community Strategic Plan 2025–2035 and a four-year Delivery Program 2025–2029 (updated 18 June 2025) with an annual Operational Plan and budget — the first full planning cycle prepared by an elected council since 2019 — alongside a Long Term Financial Plan 2025–2035 and a new Waste Management Strategy 2025–2035.
The council groups its commitments into six pillars: Our Lifestyle, Our Community, Our Economy, Our Infrastructure, Our Environment and Our Council. It manages local and regional roads, water and sewer, waste, parks, aerodrome and planning across a 21,690 km² shire served from two towns, Balranald and Euston, with an economy built on agriculture, horticulture, mineral sands, solar generation and park tourism.
The council's 2026–27 Revenue Policy shows about $4.2 million in ordinary rates from 1,518 assessments, of which farmland raises roughly half; own-source revenue was 39.4% of income in 2023–24, below the OLG's >60% benchmark, so grants carry most of the load. The council has publicly and repeatedly advocated to state and federal governments about funding formulas for small remote councils and about the effects of Murray-Darling water buybacks on the local economy.
Underway now
Waste Management Strategy 2025–2035
Strategy adopted; first actions budgeted in 2026–27Council adopted a ten-year Waste Management Strategy prepared by CT Management Group, after public exhibition. It records that no kerbside recycling or FOGO service currently exists in the shire and that the waste diversion rate is about 8% against the NSW EPA's 80%-by-2030 target, and sets out 13 priority areas — waste composition audits of the red bin, a community survey, investigation of FOGO options including home composting and opt-in collection, a feasibility study for a Community Recycling Centre at either landfill, landfill operations reviews at Balranald and Euston, and a review of waste fees and charges. The 2026–27 budget provides for work to start on the recommendations, including the fees review; until it is done, waste charges rise by the 4.6% peg-equivalent.
Source: Balranald Shire Council — Waste Management Strategy 2025–2035
Planned / committed
Benanee Road sealing and upgrade, Euston
Funding confirmed April 2026; delivery arrangements being finalisedThe council has confirmed Australian Government funding under the Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program to seal and upgrade about 15 kilometres of Benanee Road at Euston — a local route used by school buses, residents, agricultural traffic and freight. Works are to include new subbase and base pavement layers, a bitumen seal and edge line marking over the full length. The council described the funding as multi-million-dollar but has not published a dollar figure; it says it will now work through final planning and delivery arrangements.
Source: Balranald Shire Council — Media Release: Major Funding Boost for Benanee Road Upgrade at Euston
Recently delivered
Euston Recreation Reserve upgrade
Officially opened May 2026The council opened the upgraded Euston Recreation Reserve in May 2026, funded through three grant programs totalling more than $1.6 million: $250,000 from Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program Round 3 (Australian Government) for the Euston Oval multicourt upgrade and a new shade shelter; $527,626 from Stronger Country Communities Fund Round 4 (NSW Government) for the netball change rooms and LED court lighting; and $832,921 from LRCI Round 4 for a full football-oval refurbishment — about four acres of new playing surface, an irrigation system, 510 metres of perimeter fencing, new field light fittings, an electronic scoreboard, eight padded goal posts and a new officials and timekeepers' box. The oval upgrade was recommended as a priority by the Euston Progressive Advisory Committee in 2023.
Source: Balranald Shire Council — Media Release: Official Opening of the Upgraded Euston Recreation Reserve
Performance Improvement Orders closed
Confirmed by the Minister, announced 14 May 2026The council announced that the NSW Minister for Local Government confirmed the Performance Improvement Orders applying to Balranald Shire Council would be closed, after the council's fourth and final compliance report in September 2025 and an update in January 2026. The Minister's advice covered both the 2024 Order and outstanding actions from an earlier 2017 Order. The council said the outcome should be read as a governance reset rather than the end of its financial, workforce and infrastructure pressures as a small rural council across a very large area.