Shire tries to calm fears about unsealed road strategy

A NEW strategy from the Surf Coast Shire aims to better manage the 545 kilometres of gravel roads in the municipality, but the shire insists it is not a plan for automatically sealing unsealed roads.

Councillors resolved to adopt the Unsealed Road and Road Network Strategy at their meeting last month.

There have been several separate requests in recent years to have gravel roads upgraded (typically through a special charge scheme), and the council decided to develop a strategy for identifying and prioritising road improvements.

However, sealing roads is not universally popular across the shire, especially in Aireys Inlet, where the Aireys Inlet District Association (AIDA) and others have said that unsealed roads are valued by residents and important to the character of the area.

In response to a question from AIDA’s Freida Wachasmann during question time, shire general manager of governance and infrastructure Anne Howard said the shire appreciated AIDA’s interest in the issue.

“It would be unfortunate if Council or the community or AIDA see the strategy as a piece of work that is directed at trying to seal unsealed roads. That is not what it is about. It’s about recognising that in the unsealed road part of our network, there are roads that need investment. We need investment to address certain things.

“When we recognise these are of high priority, then the next piece of work comes to what is the appropriate investment and upgrade that follows and it isn’t always going to be even the recommendation to seal a road.

“Officers have tried to show through some modifications to the strategy since it was first presented formally last year, how the strategy and the Statement of Neighbourhood Character in the Planning Scheme can be considered appropriately when we consider looking at the other unsealed roads across the network.”