Shire will allow residents to pay for road sealing

THE Surf Coast Shire council has agreed in principle to allow property owners to pay the council to upgrade public roads, following a request from a resident in Barrabool.

The resident wants to improve access and reduce dust nuisance to his home in Ballanclea Road, and has offered to finance the upgrading of an 800-metre section of the existing gravel road to a bitumen surface.

According to the officers’ report to councillors at their January 19 meeting, when seeking to upgrade a gravel section of road, particularly one not considered a high priority under the shire’s Road Network Plan, a Special Charge Scheme would usually be instigated, “which can be an onerous process requiring a high level of consultation with adjoining impacted residents and contributions required from both council and the residents seen to be benefitting from the upgrade to the road”.

“Where funding agreement can be negotiated with a small number of owners, it is considered simpler for all concerned to enter into a financial arrangement (private works) to enable the works to proceed,” the report stated.

“Council receives such requests on an infrequent basis, and has not established principles to guide officers’ response to these requests.”

The report notes sealing Ballanclea Road will ultimately provide a benefit to the shire, with a decrease in ongoing maintenance costs (compared to leaving it as gravel) and no significant increase in renewal costs.

Councillors resolved unanimously to proceed with the Ballanclea Road upgrade, conditional to there being no objections from residents on that road or on nearby Polleys Road.

They also supported the principle of permanently upgrading shire infrastructure through a “private works” agreement with benefiting property owners, under three conditions:

• A full Special Charge Scheme is deemed to be onerous and all affected residents agree on the proposal
• There is deemed to be a benefit to the shire’s road network management in proceeding with the proposal, and
• The proposal is supported by the shire’s general manager of governance and infrastructure (presently John Bertoldi, who is acting in the role).

Cr Adrian Schonfelder, who moved the motion, said his second cousin died in a motorbike accident on the corner of Ballanclea and Barrabool roads in the early 1960s.

“I am very much in favour of improving road safety, and I commend the council for this action.”

Cr Mike Bodsworth said it was important for the shire to have an established process to assess such requests in the future.

“I think consultation’s important because in certain communities, the idea of sealing roads is not as popular as it is in others.”