Council has been given $878,000 for the development of new amenities and change rooms at Jubilee Park.  While a community stage and amenities block will also be built at the Community Gardens for $878,000.

The money is from the Stronger Country Communities Fund program, and is on top of an earlier grant to build footpaths in Yenda, Yoogali and Hanwood.

Griffith mayor John Dal Broi described the funding announcement, from the Member for Murray Austin Evans, as “bloody fantastic”.

Councillor Dal Broi said it would take some of the pressure off the budget as council didn’t need to match the grant funds. He said the two projects which received funding hadn’t been plucked out of the air, but had come about through community consultation.

“The Jubilee Park amenities block has been on the wishlist for quite a while,” Cr Dal Broi said.

“It takes the pressure off ratepayers, if we didn’t receive these grants, these projects wouldn’t happen for quite a while.”

Cr Dal Broi said as a rural council, a careful balancing act between providing for and maintaining existing services like roads, and improving or providing new services had to be struck.

“Over 12 months of the year, there is (agricultural) product being transported out of the area,” he said.

“A big issue for us is road infrastructure, we have to balance that with what else the community expects.”

Coleambally and Darlington Point will also share in the grant funds, with $1.5 million to be spent.

The Coleambally Stadium will receive $320,000, while another $705,000 will be spent on the sporting precinct. Darlington Point’s Sports Ground will have $320,000 worth of improvements and $190,000 will be spent redeveloping the golf course’s irrigation system.