Mayors campaign for
Hawkesbury Mayor Sarah McMahon with Hornsby Mayor Philip Ruddock and Hills Shire Mayor Dr Peter Gangemi . They are at Thompson Square , Windsor .
Mayors across Western Sydney and Northwest Sydney have united to campaign for the establishment of a metropolitan road repairs fund to help support Sydney councils with the extent of damage across their respective road networks .
Mayors from The Hills Shire , Hawkesbury and Hornsby and others who are supporting the cause , including Wollondilly , Penrith and Campbelltown have called for funding from the State and Federal Governments after many Local Government Areas ( LGA ) experienced record-breaking rain and multiple flooding disasters over a three-year period .
The joint campaign comes after Local Government NSW declared a ‘ State-wide Roads Emergency ’ at the National Local Roads and Transport Congress in Hobart . The declaration , that was supported by NSW mayors , urged the State and Federal Governments to increase funding commitments to help local councils repair their road network before the situation becomes even more dire .
The NSW Government has already announced it will provide $ 50 million under the Fixing Local Roads Pothole Repair Program to regional and rural councils to address their highest priority pothole requests .
Mayor of The Hills Shire , Dr Peter Gangemi said Sydney councils , especially those with large rural or semi-rural areas , are in desperate need of a similar fund to assist with repairs to return roads to a standard residents have been calling for .
“ Just like rural regions , The Hills Shire has also been affected by persistent wet weather systems . On top of this , residents have endured several major flooding disasters in the last few years and our roads are deteriorating much quicker than our modelling could have predicted under a third consecutive La Nina .” Mayor Gangemi said .
“ Despite about two-thirds of our Shire being considered rural , it is hard to understand why we are still not eligible to apply for this funding .”
“ In addition to the record rain , we are seeing more requests for pothole and road repairs than ever before . In 2019 , Council received 1680 calls to fix potholes and carryout road patching work . This has now grown to 5086 requests in 2022 .
“ What we are calling for is greater support for councils across NSW , so that we can fix our roads that our community expects and deserves .” Mayor of Hawkesbury City Council , Sarah McMahon said since the July flood , Council has filled 9,400 potholes . In the past three years , $ 1.07 million has been spent repairing potholes , with another $ 1 million to be spent this year . This is on top of the $ 240 million in flood related repairs and other routine upgrades and maintenance that is currently being managed .
“ After six floods in three years , roads in the Hawkesbury and right across Sydney are in dire need of coordinated and wellfunded assistance from the government ,” she said .
“ Our thoughts are with the LGAs and residents out west as they battle their own current flood crisis , but back here in Sydney we have councils that have been struggling for more than two years now to manage crumbling road networks , and flood evacuation routes that are not fit for purpose .
“ Without assistance to recover and future-proof these networks , millions of motorists will continue to be put at risk every day ,” Mayor McMahon added .
Mayor of Hornsby Shire Council , Philip Ruddock said the recent weather events have been unprecedented and resulted in significant damage to roads across the Shire , particularly in the rural areas .
“ Hornsby Shire Council endeavours to be as responsive as possible to report potholes and is proactive in its work . Our focus has been to make the roads safe for our residents ,” Mayor Ruddock said .
“ While we have repaired thousands of potholes , this is just a band-aid solution and significant money needs to be spent on addressing major road failures .
“ Hornsby Shire Council has a budget of $ 3.2 million in the current financial year for road restoration and maintenance and we anticipate this will be fully expended by Christmas . It is estimated that we will need a further $ 3-5 million to address road failures resulting from this year ’ s weather events .
“ Hornsby Shire Council has made numerous representations to the State Government seeking funding for flood and rain damage , including damage to our local roads . I am pleased to join with Hills Shire Mayor , Dr Peter Gangemi , and other fellow Sydney Mayors in seeking assistance to repair our rain damaged roads ,” Mayor Ruddock added .
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THE HAWKESBURY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au ISSUE 151 // DECEMBER 2022 5