Hawkesbury Council enters tourism alliance with Penrith, Blue Mountains

Hawkesbury councillors voted to endorse allocating $110,000 over three years to form an alliance with Penrith and Blue Mountains councils in order to jointly apply for tourism funding.

At Council’s November 8 meeting the motion passed 10-1, with Liberal councillor Patrick Conolly voting against it, while fellow Liberal Tiffany tree was absent.

The tourism alliance is part of the broader Regional Strategic Alliance, which was signed by the three councils earlier in the year.

The Strategic Alliance was an answer by the councils to avoid amalgamation by entering into an agreement to share some costs and services between them.

Cr Conolly said he was concerned the tourism alliance was creating a new entity, and was not in the spirit of the Strategic Alliance.

“I share concerns that it seems like we are creating another bureaucracy here and it was never meant to be that way, it was meant to be an alliance not an entity in its own right,” he said.

Labor councillor Barry Calvert said Hawkesbury had a lot to gain from joining the tourism alliance.

“We are a small partner and we have the most to gain from this alliance,” he said.

Independent councillor Paul Rasmussen said he was in favour of the proposal.

“I think there is merit in what is being proposed here,” he said.

“As councillors know we as a Council are in the throes of setting up a tourism committee as well and this nicely fits in with that.”

Liberal councillor Sarah Richards voted for it, but said she also had concerns about the tourism alliance.

“We’re putting a fair bit of money into the regional alliance, and I think we are the lesser of the three and I don’t want us to be forgotten,” she said.