In September 2025, the JWG (the Joint Working Group on which Tony Philbrick and Fiona Hughes are the CRA representatives) met with the Council team working on the project. The news was that the $5M joint Commonwealth, State and Local Government City Heart funding for trails in the Blue Heart had been received by Council. 
A Council Project Team has now been established to actively progress the N2C Trail. Their task is to design and construct as much of the Trail as possible from the site of the proposed Blue Heart Regional Park on River Rd toward Coolum.   In October a delegation from the JWG met with Tourism Minister Andrew Powell seeking to progress the part of the Trail from Nambour to Bli Bli, which is outside the Blue Heart. The meeting was facilitated and attended by Dan Purdie and Nicklin member Marty Hunt also attended. 
The outcome is that Minister Powell has agreed for his Department to provide matching funding up to $500K in their 2026 Budget toward the Investigation and Design of the section of Trail from Nambour to Bli Bli provided a match can be found. 
The JWG will now be seeking a meeting with Council to urge them to match the Minister’s offer.