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
Blayney's direction is set out in the Blayney Shire Community Strategic Plan 2025–2035 and the Delivery Program 2026/27–2029/30 with an annual Operational Plan and budget (adopted 16 June 2026), built around five themes and dominated in this term by the final year of an approved special rate variation, a road, bridge and footpath renewal program, and a waste services review that will bring a FOGO bin in 2028.
Council manages local roads, bridges, footpaths, sewer, waste, parks, libraries, the CentrePoint Sport and Leisure Centre and development assessment across a 1,525 km² Central Tablelands shire of about 7,800 people; drinking water is supplied separately by Central Tablelands Water. Its Integrated Planning & Reporting documents group everything under five themes: Leadership, Community, Infrastructure, Economy, and Natural & Built Environment. The Delivery Program is the elected council's statement of commitment for its four-year term.
The adopted 2026/27 budget carries a consolidated operating deficit of $2.078M (General Fund −$2.394M, Sewer Fund +$316k) against a $10.555M capital budget, in the final year of the IPART-approved 10%-a-year special variation. Council's own Financial Sustainability Update names higher waste-landfill environmental compliance costs, a sharp rise in fuel prices and uncertainty about the commencement of the McPhillamys Gold Project as pressures that emerged after the 2025 Long Term Financial Plan, and states that further remedial action could involve reviewing services or applying for a further special variation.
Underway now
CentrePoint battery energy storage system
Announced 2 December 2025Council is installing a 1000kWh / 500kW battery energy storage system (BESS) at the CentrePoint Sport and Leisure Centre. The $996,182 project is fully externally funded — $500,000 from Newmont Cadia through the Cadia Community Partnership Program and $496,000 from the Australian Government's Community Energy Upgrades Fund — so no Council contribution is required. CentrePoint currently incurs about $150,000 a year in electricity costs; Council conservatively estimates annual cash savings of around $100,000. CentrePoint is a recognised regional emergency facility, and Council says the battery will provide backup power during disasters.
Millthorpe CBD upgrade (Stage 1 of the Millthorpe Village Centre Masterplan)
Stage 1 of the Millthorpe Village Centre MasterplanCouncil lists the Millthorpe CBD upgrade among its current major projects: infrastructure upgrades, improved stormwater management and a more pedestrian-friendly environment, described by Council as enhancing safety, accessibility and amenity while preserving the village's heritage character. Other current projects listed alongside it are the Church Hill Rotary Lookout upgrade (funded by Blayney Rotary Club, Council and the NSW Government) and road upgrades at Richards Lane (NSW Government Resources for Regions Round 9) and Tallwood Road.
Special rate variation — final year
10% a year for three years from 1 July 2024; final year 2026/27IPART approved Council's s.508A application on 14 May 2024 for a 33.1% cumulative increase in general rates income, delivered as 10% a year (including the rate peg) across 2024/25, 2025/26 and 2026/27 and retained permanently in the rate base. Council endorsed the Delivery Program and Operational Plan inclusive of the variation on 25 June 2024, and implemented Year 3 at its June 2026 meeting. Council's 2026/27 plan says the variation, together with other Long Term Financial Plan assumptions, should deliver a more financially sustainable position over the life of the 2026/27–2035/36 LTFP, and allows a higher allowance for infrastructure asset expenditure to reduce the backlog.
Planned / committed
Waste services review and FOGO rollout
Community engagement 2025; tender 2026; new service from April 2028Blayney's kerbside collection contract expires in 2028, and Council has used the renewal to review how waste services are delivered. Community surveys and a drop-in session ran in June 2025; at its meeting on 21 July 2025 Council endorsed tendering three options for the red general-waste bin (weekly, fortnightly, or fortnightly with a review clause). Council has received an NSW EPA grant to support a FOGO rollout, and its published timeline has a new kerbside waste, recycling and FOGO collection service commencing in April 2028, with the preferred model decided in late 2026 or early 2027.