The trees have grown so big for so long in the table drain by the side of Armatree Road that an Environmental Impact Statement is now needed to remove them.
That’s the ironic situation Hugh Beveridge sees from his Gilgandra property as he dreads when the big rains come, filling the table drain, the vegetation holding the water, which then floods his paddocks on his Merino farm “Bullagreen”.
“Some of the table drains and causeways has not been cleared for 30 years,” Mr Beveridge says. “We have trees in culverts. These roads have been poorly maintained for years.”
But there is some light at the end of the road. Mr Beveridge said the new general manager, David Reeves, at Gilgandra Shire Council, had recently responded to the situation and had been able to get council staff to clear about four kilometres of vegetation along the Armatree Road table drain.
“That has been great, but we just want it to continue,” Mr Beveridge said.
Mr Beveridge said landholders were hit with a 33 per cent rate rise a few years ago, but “we are not sure what we are getting for our rates”. Mr Beveridge said Mr Reeves met with 15 ratepayers to discuss their concerns along Armatree Road.
“At least a fifth of what we wanted has been done, so that’s a start.”
He said some of the trees had grown so big, the council needed “an EIS to move them”. Several large native trees had grown back, including myall and belah trees in the table drain. The other issue was water trapped in table drains seeped under the road, causing structural damage.
Local Government NSW says many local roads suffer from underfunding.
“Some 90 per cent of local roads in NSW – more than 164,000 kilometres – are already suffering a life-cycle funding gap of $447 million per year,” said Local Government NSW president Keith Rhoades.
“Those roads are managed by councils which have been systematically starved of funding, so unless the state government is prepared to help reduce the backlog they’ll end up in no fit state to support new roads the government is so committed to delivering.”
Cr Rhoades said the Budget did not specify the allocation for the Regional Road Block Grants and Repair program for 2017-18, with government as yet unable to provide the figure, despite requests.
However, budget papers did include an allocation of $100 million in 2017-18 for round three of the $543m Fixing Country Roads program. Some $155m of this program has been allocated and expended to date, with the remaining funding being made progressively available.
“Local Government NSW welcomes the continuation of these two critical funding programs, and it believes the NSW government needs to increase Regional Road Block Grants to a more adequate level and establish a Fixing Metro Roads to provide funding for strategically significant local road infrastructure on key freight corridors in metropolitan areas,” he said. Armatree Rd runs from the Castlereagh Hwy, west to Merrigal Rd.