Lismore's Mayor Vanessa Ekins and Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan met media and council members this morning at the Riverside Park Boat Ramp to announce a major boost in funding for our Wilson River walking trail.

"Before dawn every morning the streets of Lismore are full of people walking. And they're walking on the road a lot because we don't have enough footpaths," Mayor Ekins said.

Both Ekins and Hogan expressed excitement at the opportunity to improve the walking path and surrounds from the boat ramp under the bridge through to the Albert Park baseball precinct.

"When we did our sport and recreation strategy back in 2008 we identified that walking is the major form of exercise for Lismore people and that they wanted more paths to walk on, " Mayor Ekins continued.

"Its a thing that visitors come to this area to do, especially when we've got these beautiful panels on the river bank with our history, it talks about our aboriginal history and our settler history here....we're pretty excited about the connection between Riverside Park and Albert Park, " she added.

Ms Ekins thanked Mr Hogan for "working on our behalf to get the funding."

Mr Hogan said "I really acknowledge the councillors and staff here today who have done the work for these submissions because what we've seen with Covid and what we've seen with people getting out and about and in need of exercise...this is going to be great not just for locals but for tourists and people who visit our town, this is a beautiful part of our town."

The funding comes from a federal level and amounts to approximately $660,000.

Martin Soutar, Open Space Assets Co-ordinator for Lismore City Council, will be Project Manager for this significant work and estimates it will be complete within this business year.

"Part of this process is going to be some interpretive signage so we'll be talking with some local aboriginal groups in regards to that. It' will take probably a good 6 months of planning then construction will be about a 3 to 4 month turn around," Mr Soutar said.

"Its another opportunity for people to connect with our river as well which is the whole reason that Lismore is settled here, it's because of the river...the cedar cutters coming up here and accessing the Big Scrub...it's a big part of our history." Ms Ekins concluded.