January 23, 2014
A group of about 30 local residents met with representatives of the South Burnett Regional Council at McLean Road, Durong, this morning to complain about the state of local roads.
Resident Simon Stretton, who organised the meeting, said the condition of roads in the area was “absolutely dreadful” and that locals were “quite angry and cheesed off”, particularly as they were paying the $200 road levy.
He claimed many of the roads had not been graded for years and had only been “patched up” after the 2011 floods.
The meeting especially highlighted the condition of McLean Road, Shellytop Road and McPhee Road.
Mr Stretton said residents had suffered major damage to their vehicles; some had even taken receipts for the repairs into Council as proof, but the roads had not been repaired.
He had also emailed photographs to Council of a car accident that had occurred on McLean Road more than 12 months ago, but still no action had been taken. The photographs show damage to a vehicle driven by local resident Dell Burton who ended up in an eroded washout on the road shoulder while trying to avoid a kangaroo on the narrow carriageway.
“You used to be able to travel along McLean Road at 100km/h; now you are rattling along if you are doing 30km/h,” he said.
Cr Ros Heit and Roads portfolio holder Cr Damien Tessman met with the group for more than two hours this morning to listen to their concerns.
After the meeting, Crs Heit and Tessmann also inspected a stock route running through the area which residents want graded and cleared to improve fire safety.
Mr Stretton said the former Wondai Shire Council used to grade the stock route but the South Burnett Regional Council had said it was not their responsibility.
Cr Ros Heit told southburnett.com.au this afternoon that Council hoped to have a grading crew out working on the Durong roads by March.
The crew would begin work after they completed a current project in Murgon.
“They will be working their way along all those roads,” she said.
Cr Heit said Shellytop Road, in particular, had always been at the top of her list of priorities because it was a school bus route “and it is terrible”.
However, she said there were a lot of roads in the region that needed grading and the work had always been scheduled for March.
