New England largely overlooked in NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey's first budget

More than $51 million will be spent on the town's Special Activation Precinct in the next year, according to the budget papers.

There's an extra $9.850 million for energy works in relation to the precinct.

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The budget confirms $80 million for the Moree hospital upgrade, as well as reconfirming $261 million for heavy duty pavements between Narrabri and Moree along the Newell Highway.

Moree Artesian Pools will receive $892,000 for upgrades.

"We're very comforted by the support from the NSW Government and look forward to working with them in bringing these projects to fruition," Moree Plains Shire Council Mayor Mark Johnson.

The balance of up to $198.5 million allocated for the precinct will be spent over the next four years.

Completion of the new business hub, which will specialise in agribusiness, logistics and food processing, is scheduled for 2027.

But funding dwindled across the rest of the region.

Armidale Mayor Sam Coupland said he had been warned by several state ministers in August that Treasurer Daniel Mookhey's first budget would be austere.

"I didn't expect much in the way of goodies for the regions and I suspect Armidale has been largely left out," Mayor Coupland said.

Tenterfield Mayor Bronwyn Petrie agreed.

"We seem to have been forgotten again," she said.

But Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall said he was celebrating almost $612 million in capital investment for the region, including some big-ticket projects which he feared would be cut by the new government.

While keen to celebrate these local funding wins, Mr Marshall acknowledged the bitter disappointment in the overall reduction of funding to rural and regional NSW, including the slashing of cost of living measures to households and regional grant programs.

"While lobbying for our local projects was successful, overall this year's budget is nothing short of a kick in the guts for country NSW," he said.

"The government has really slashed and burned, we may have saved the furniture here, but the bigger picture is pretty bleak."

Budget highlights for the region include:

$888,685 for new musical studios at the Music Education Culture Community.

$9 million for upgrades on Thunderbolts Way between Uralla and Bundarra.

$6.12 million for the Boilerhouse Discovery Space at UNE.

$4.2 million to make Tenterfield a mountain bike destination town.

$50 million for Glen Innes Hospital upgrade.

$1.97 million for Bingara Road.

$5 million for the Reconnecting Watercourse Country Program in the Gwydir.

$254 million for upgrades to Armidale and Tenterfield ambulance stations (to be shared across 54 other stations).

$4.19 million for new and improved Aboriginal social housing.

$2.9 million for new and improved non-Aborignal social housing;

$28.7 million for the region's local councils to undertake emergency road repairs.

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