There’s one thing everyone agrees on - no matter their age, location or politics.
Potholes suck.
With Shoalhaven City Council responsible for a vast network of local roads, the subject is raised by every candidate and constituent, usually in frustration.
Councils are responsible for the management of local road networks, including road safety, road funding, road maintenance, and heavy vehicle access. In fact, around 90% of the NSW road network by length is managed by local councils. Shoalhaven has around 1800km of roads.
Road funding for councils is provided by:
- The Australian Government through the Identified Local Roads component of Financial Assistance Grants (FA Grants), the Roads to Recovery Grants Program, and the Black Spots Program
- The NSW Government through Block Grants for regional roads and other special purpose grants
- Councils' own funding streams
Here are five fast facts - and links to the sources - to smooth over some bumps before we drive into today's Mayoralypics question.
- In July, two years since it was first promised, $40 million of Federal funding to upgrade key Shoalhaven region roads between Worrigee, Culburra and Callala was again announced. The package was delayed in June 2023 when Shoalhaven City Council resolved that they did not have the capacity to undertake the work internally.
- As bad as Shoalhaven roads are, a lot of other regions are far worse off. General grants are divided between the states and territories on the basis of population. But the Grattan Institute says Commonwealth funding for councils should be allocated on the basis of the needs of councils. Since many councils cannot raise enough money to keep their roads in good condition, Grattan calls for a 25% increase in roads funding for councils - a billion dollar annual increase is only about 10% of what the federal government spent on roads last year.
- Shoalhaven Council's team of IT specialists and engineers was recently awarded Highly Commended in Innovative Leadership at the NSW Local Government Excellence Awards for their project that harnesses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect road defects.
- The Australia Institute research, among others, shows that trucks (freight) cause the most damage on our roads but don’t pay for it. This article looks at that in detail while this considers the reason why road freight is on the rise.
- And if you want instead to get off the roads more, you can comment on SCC's Active Transport Strategy to prioritise the delivery of new paths, pedestrian crossings and cycleway infrastructure across the city. As well as improving health and easing traffic congestion, the plan aims to improve access to towns and services for people with disabilities and residents who don’t drive.
Clearly, managing and maintaining Shoalhaven’s roads are not simple matters and depend heavily on collaboration with State and Federal funders. So here's what Spark asked our Mayoral candidates.
What do you see as the key challenges SCC faces in bringing the region's local roads up to a safe and pleasing standard?
How do the elected councillors and the Mayor affect the way council staff and systems deal with our road repair crisis?
Do you have a specific idea or opinion about how our council’s approach to managing roads should change?
Kaye Gartner
Saturday was a big Day of Action for our Council campaign. We had teams out in lots of locations throughout the Shoalhaven and lots of conversations about the state of our roads.
Our network of roads has always been underfunded and Council has always struggled to keep up the maintenance, due to a rapidly growing population, a low rate base delivering a low maintenance budget, and Councillors prioritising new stuff over taking care of the old.
Then there’s the rain! Every single community member I talked to knows that the extreme weather events are a causal factor in the current state of our roads. In 2021, Mayor Amanda Findley negotiated a one off extra $10 million grant for road repair, because of the impact of natural disasters; then we got more – natural disasters that is!
I am proposing a Visitor Paid Parking rollout to supply the funds Shoalhaven Council needs to repair and maintain our roads to a standard that is safe and welcoming for our community and our tourists. With a stable, continuous funding stream available, Council staff can monitor and maintain roads. The Council I lead will rebuild to a standard that withstands the ravages of the increasing number extreme weather events our community is enduring. We need to raise roads built across floodplains, strengthen bridges and drains in unstable soils and promote road design initiatives that face the conditions of the 21st century.
Jemma Tribe
10 years ago, when I was on Council, I distinctly remember an alarming briefing we had about the maintenance backlog of Shoalhaven roads. Sadly, it’s still the case today and in fact, extraordinary rain events have no doubt made the repair bills far higher.
Finances are obviously a major challenge, so is having appropriate weather conditions and finding contractors who are willing/able.
Repairing our roads is one thing, repairing our reputation is another. If projects aren’t shovel ready when grant funding is attracted, there is a danger that they won’t be carried out in the appropriate time frame, or costs will blow out - making it untenable and forcing funds to be handed back (as we’ve seen happen). This affects our ability to attract grants in the future (and to secure contractors who may doubt our ability to commit).
Securing the $40 million promised by the Federal Government for local roads and carrying out the projects (as outlined in this year’s delivery plan), will be crucial in restoring our reputation and being able to attract more.
Team Tribe Independents are running on a platform of ‘Back to Basics’ – repairing local roads, balancing the budget and introducing FOGO style green bins because we are hearing loud and clear from people in Berry to Bawley that Council needs to spend some time focussing on these fundamental issues first to get them right.
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Got a question to ask Jemma Tribe or Kaye Gartner? Post it in the comments or email it to thesparkshoalhaven@gmail.com
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