The council has completed the first year of a four-year strategy to increase its footpath budget to $1.4 million or $350,000 a year.

Now with an extra $320,000 from the NSW government, the council has brought forward a number of projects that were originally scheduled for 2019/20 and introduced a number of new footpath renewal projects around aged care facilities.

Orange mayor Reg Kidd said work started last week at two locations in March street, ear East Orange and Catherine McAuley schools.

“Paths near aged care facilities are also in the spotlight. I’m pleased work has begun on a new concrete path outside the Ascott Gardens aged care facility where there was only grass before,” Cr Kidd said.

“An upgrade of the path in Summer Street outside the entrance to Wontama is also on the list along with improvements in Kite Street near the UnitingCare aged care facility.

“There’s a lot of work to do and it’s great that we can work in partnership with the state government to deliver even more upgraded footpaths.”

Orange City Council Infrastructure Committee chairman Cr Sam Romano said council assets management staff produce the list.

“Every footpath in Orange is routinely checked for factors like wear and tear, and damage from tree roots,” Cr Romano said. 

He said there is objective criteria around the condition of the surface, the amount of foot traffic and the site’s accident history that are used to make those decisions.

A map can be found at https://yoursay.orange.nsw.gov.au/better-footpaths.