Upper Hunter Shire Council’s technical services director Bede Spannagle said work on drainage and kerb and guttering had begun ahead of replacing the toilet block and new landscaping.

“We are building brand new toilet facilities immediately behind the old ones, which will stay open until the new facilities are finished,” Mr Spannagle said.

“Everything except the monuments and noticeboards will be removed and we will create a new barbeque and picnic area, garden and playground,” he said, adding the work was expected to be complete in six months.

“It is a feature park on the highway and you see quite a few travelers with caravans and campervans and trailers stop there,” he said.

Councillor Lorna Driscoll said she was pleased the council had agreed with a proposal by the Advancing Aberdeen Committee to retain a sample of the old concrete as a historic feature that would be inlaid to new paving.

“In the mid-19th century the land was a lucerne paddock, then in 1916 it was the site of a skating rink,” Cr Driscoll said.

“The concrete that is there now was the base for an outdoor theatre that was popular from the 1940s to the 1960s, where people had folding chairs and sat under the stars,” she said.

Cr Driscoll said in 1955 the site was flooded when the Hunter River burst its banks, and in 1969 the land’s owner Arthur Taylor donated the area to the council for public use. The council has also agreed to a request to provide a storyboard at the park to highlight its diverse history as a place where people gather.

The Advancing Aberdeen Committee is fundraising by selling engraved pavers for $25 and many local families have purchased these, Cr Driscoll said.

People interested in having an engraved paver should contact Cr Driscoll at Aberdeen General Store or by phoning 6543 7394.

Mr Spannagle said about $130,000 was being spent on work to resolve significant stormwater problems in Campbell Street, with work to include kerb and guttering.

In other news, council’s traffic committee will investigate improving the exits from Aberdeen valley Fair.

The Advancing Aberdeen committee said there were two single kerb laybacks on Macqueen Street which provided an exit from the shopping complex with the northern layback getting the most use.

Neither layback is signed for traffic flow, and the committee expressed concern that the northern layback was not wide enough.