Residents who have been campaigning for a skate park in Thirroul are pleased to see money for the long-coming project has appeared in Wollongong City Council's spending program.
But there is still no word on which site will be chosen for the facility, or how this will be determined.
The council's latest draft Infrastructure Delivery Program contains a total of $2.675 million in funding for skate parks in both Wollongong and Thirroul, with the northern project to commence design work in the coming financial year.
Thirroul Village Committee (TVC) vice-president Elliot Stein welcomed the apparent funding commitment but said the community wanted proper engagement with the council about selecting a site.
"The TVC has been promoting the idea of a skate park in Thirroul for over a decade and a half now," he said.
"While it is pleasing there's some funds allocated in the draft budget for over two years of design work we would hope to see real engagement from council with the community.
"We want to work productively with the council but the real question we all have is where will the skate park be located?
"After a long community campaign for a local skate park there's no point delaying anymore - council needs to work with us, find a suitable site and get cracking."
A Wollongong City Council spokeswoman said consultation on the draft delivery program closed on Tuesday, and feedback would now be reviewed.
"We know our community is keen to see a skate park in Thirroul and we're excited to get started on this project in the next financial year," she said.
"At this point in time no site, or short-list has been selected for the planned Thirroul skate park.
"When choosing the location of all of our skate parks, Council uses an industry based site selection criteria. This is how we'll select the location in Thirroul.
"We plan to run a thorough community engagement on the design of the future skate park as we want to involve our community every step of the way.
"We'll let the Thirroul community know how to get involved once we get closer to starting this project.
"Site selection, consultation, design and construction will take two years."
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Ben Langford
Senior journalist writing on the environment. Opinion columnist, independent. We rely on your news tips so please, don't be shy to let us know what's going on.
Senior journalist writing on the environment. Opinion columnist, independent. We rely on your news tips so please, don't be shy to let us know what's going on.
