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
Bellingen Shire's direction is set out in 'Our Plan for the Future 2025–2035', a single integrated document combining the Community Strategic Plan, Delivery Program and annual Operational Plan, shaped heavily in 2026 by the Waterfall Way landslip and its detour-route and remediation works, alongside longer-running financial-sustainability planning.
The council manages local roads, water, waste, parks and planning across a Mid North Coast LGA built on tourism (Waterfall Way, Dorrigo National Park), agriculture and the arts. Its integrated plan is the elected council's statement of commitment, reviewed and re-adopted through public exhibition each year.
The council met 6 of 9 OLG financial-health benchmarks in 2023–24, with its own-source revenue, infrastructure-backlog and asset-maintenance ratios outside benchmark; long-term financial planning and cost-shifting from other levels of government are recurring themes in its Integrated Planning & Reporting documents.
Underway now
Waterfall Way (Gordonville Cutting) landslip remediation
Landslip Jan 2026; one-lane reopened 22 Mar 2026; remediation ongoingA landslip at Gordonville Cutting on Waterfall Way (triggered by severe rainfall on 19 January 2026) deposited more than 250 tonnes of rock and debris and closed the key route between Bellingen and Dorrigo. Transport for NSW restored controlled one-lane access within six weeks (from 22 March 2026, with temporary traffic lights, a 40 km/h limit and width restrictions) while engineers plan permanent slope stabilisation, expected to take roughly six to eight months of construction once designed.
Source: NSW Government — Safe access to Waterfall Way to be restored following 250 tonne landslip
$30 million Summervilles & Gordonville roads upgrade
Announced May 2026A $30 million NSW Government investment (on top of an existing $3.8 million Australian Government commitment) will upgrade Summervilles and Gordonville roads — the detour routes used during the Waterfall Way closure — including road widening and resurfacing, upgraded drainage, replacement of two timber bridges with reinforced-concrete structures, and sealing a 3km unsealed section. Transport for NSW is delivering it with Bellingen Shire Council.
Source: NSW Government — Major $30 million upgrade to future-proof critical Bellingen roads
Financial sustainability & cost-shifting
Ongoing via Integrated Planning & ReportingWith own-source revenue, infrastructure-backlog and asset-maintenance ratios outside OLG benchmark in the time-series data, and the council publicising LGNSW's 2025 cost-shifting analysis of how state and federal cost transfers affect council rates, long-term financial planning is a recurring priority in the council's integrated plan. We present the ratios and their benchmarks; readers can judge from the sources.
Source: Bellingen Shire Council — Cost Shifting Report: How State Costs Consume Council Rates