One of the most rewarding aspects of being in the community newspaper game is when readers’ concerns are acted upon by the local powers that be. So when we asked you to nominate the worst roads in the Shoalhaven, it was heartening to see the story was read by mayor Amanda Findley.
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More important, however, was the comment she posted to Robert Crawford’s story, thanking the Register for seeking community views and askling that it be a regular forum. The information gleaned would be useful for council as it plans it program of works.
Also encouraging was the offer by council’s media team to interview Ben Stewart, the council director whose challenging task is to bring our roads up to scratch within a very tight budget. We thank him for making himself available to conduct some on-the-ground community engagement. We encourage other directors to follow suit when their areas of responsibility become the focus of community concern.
While we’re not popping the Champagne quite yet, we are impressed with council’s willingness to spell out the challenges it faces with roads and the plans it has for tackling them.
There is no local subject quite as likely to generate passion than the state of our roads. A clear expectation of residents and ratepayers is that road maintenance should sit atop council’s priority list. The reason for this is easy to understand. We travel the roads every day and are constantly reminded of their pitfalls and potholes. Our story last week about the appalling state of Millbank Road was a case in point.
We said the road was beyond repair and would require a complete rebuild, something Ben Stewart has confirmed. Not only that, he said Jindy Andy Lane, another rat run from the beachside villages, would also need reconstruction. Ditto Hillcrest Avenue.
The strain on these roads is well known to the motorists who use them every day. And that gets us to the issue of the East Nowra Sub Arterial Road (ENSAR), which has been a long recognised solution to the woes on these smaller roads.
We’re told the future of ENSAR rests with Stockland and its possible expansion plans, which does not bode well for any quick start to the project.
In coming days, we intend to press Stockland on this. We certainly won’t be quiet if the future of our city’s infrastructure is held up by a stalled development.
