Secret drainage details revealed

SOME of the secrecy about drainage improvements to a road in Mount Duneed has been lifted, with the council revealing the contents of a resolution about the matter – but only after the resolution had been voted on.

The Surf Coast Shire has been in talks for some time with residents of Dickins Road, who are unhappy with the existing drainage arrangements and, more recently, the grading of the road.

“Dickins Road Drainage” was listed in the closed section of the agenda for the March 27 council meeting, much to the displeasure of some residents – who asked for an explanation during public
question time – and Cr Heather Wellington, who unsuccessfully tried to bring the agenda item into the public section of the meeting.

In response to a question from Andrew Parrat, the shire’s general manager of governance and infrastructure Anne Howard said that under Section 77(2)(c) of the Local Government Act, the council may consider matters that relate to legal advice at a meeting closed to the public.

It is unknown what that legal advice is or how it relates to drainage in Dickins Road, and the report considered by councillors in the closed section remains confidential.

According to the now-revealed resolution published in the minutes, the council has “affirmed that it has no legal obligation to provide drainage improvements in rural catchments” but it has “already funded a range of studies and investigations seeking to determine options to improve drainage in the Mount Duneed catchment” and “completed works on road-related drainage infrastructure as per its commitment to landowners on Dickins Road”.

The resolution also notes that a low levee on private property had been affecting overland water flow in recent years, but this levee was in the process of being removed and the shire would monitor the situation for a year “to better understand the local catchment behaviour in the vicinity of Dickins Road”.

The shire’s officers will also prepare a Drainage Policy “to clarify the role council will take in relation to urban and rural and assist in prioritisation of drainage-related funding”.