Message from the Mayor: 28 July 2023

Published on 28 July 2023

Hello, I'm John Connors the Mayor of the Dungog Shire bringing you this week’s Mayoral Message.

Like last week, the dominant topic within the Dungog Shire is the Brig O’Johnston Bridge in Clarence Town and the proposed replacement bridge.

As I'm sure you're all aware, the bridge was damaged by an oversized vehicle back on the 12th of July and the bridge since that time has been closed to all traffic. Transport for NSW own the bridge and are in charge of the bridge. And the only information Council gets is the information Transport for NSW gives us. The most recent information from them is that they will later today, today being Thursday, issue a further traffic update (at time of recording this video). That update will be posted to live traffic, and Council of course on receipt of it will post on its social media platforms and its website.

We are aware that Transport for NSW have established a work site in the Lions Park adjacent to the bridge and we understand this is to facilitate further evaluations being carried out with respect to the damage to the bridge and hopefully to facilitate quantification of the work required and a timeline for that work to be carried out. So all I can say is follow Live Traffic, Council’s website and council’s social media pages where we'll try and give you the information as we are given it. (Please note - a further update has now been posted on both platforms)

Still on the bridge, it was very disappointing to hear Catherine King, the Federal Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, when interviewed on ABC Radio Newcastle yesterday to suggest that she was not fully aware of the issues with respect to the bridge. That is just not correct.

The new bridge was initially fully funded by funds from the Federal Government and the State Government. Those funds were forthcoming in the 2021 financial year but like with all funds, Council’s don't receive the money. They only receive advice as to the availability of the money.

Council then set about engaging a project manager, an engineer to manage the project and that commenced almost immediately.

The project moved somewhat more slowly than we would like because the design all had to be approved by Heritage for NSW so that slowed down the design process.

Come November of last year, the design was complete and the approval that Heritage had been maintained. We were in a position to proceed. At that time Council in conjunction with Transport for NSW realised that due to the delays and the current climate, there had been an escalation in the cost and a further $4.86 million was required to complete the bridge. Obviously without approval for that money we couldn't proceed further.

To obtain those funds Council prepared a business case as to why the additional funding was required and why the bridge of course was required. That was submitted to Transport for NSW in December of last year. At that time a letter was sent to the Federal Member Dr. Gillespie and forwarded through him to the Federal Minister, Catherine King.

That letter was acknowledged in January of this year and since that time, there's been further contact with the Minister.

We tried to seek a meeting with the Minister and the best we could get was a drop-in session in conjunction with the Australian Local Government Association Conference in June and I met with the Minister on the 15th or June 16 of June. I also met with the Minister for Regional Development, Kristy McBain on the same day.

The only response I could get from Minister King was that the funding was under review in the announced 90-day review of infrastructure projects and no further information was forthcoming.

Since that time, the General Manager and I have met with Jenny Aitchison, the State Minister for Regional Roads and Infrastructure with respect to the bridge.

And then, of course, the bridge was damaged on the 12th of July. And immediately following that damage, we again wrote to Minister King and to the State Minister Jenny Aitchison and we met with Senator Ross Cadell, a senator from NSW who's based in Newcastle.

To all of those we highlighted the need for the new bridge, the impact that the timber bridge being closed has on the community, how it divides the community, and certainly from Minister Aitchison received a favorable reception but of course no solution to the problem.

We then met this week with Tim Crakanthorp who is the Minister for the Hunter amongst other portfolios to appraise him of the situation and to seek his assistance to support Minister Aitchison in getting or pursuing funding from Transport for NSW firstly to get the old bridge repaired and operational and secondly, to get the additional funding that's required to enable us to move forward and build the new bridge which has been designed which could commence expeditiously.

As a result of Minster King’s statements on ABC Radio Newcastle yesterday, we have again written to her highlighting the current situation and drawing her attention to the timeline and the correspondence that has been forwarded to her office, to her, in the last seven months.

We've again sought a meeting with her and hopefully that might be forthcoming, but from her comments to me in June I fear that nothing will be forthcoming until after the 90 day review is finalised and from a meeting that the General Manager and the Executive Manager Assets and Infrastructure had with representatives of those doing that review and that report, that's not going to be finalised until September.

So all we can do is keep putting pressure on the state and federal Members of Parliament and I ask the community to do the same. Council can only do so much but community pressure on the State and Federal Members and Ministers can certainly add significant pressure to the cause and hopefully bring about a speedy resolution. So I would urge all of you to make contact with Dr. Gillespie as the Member for Lyne and Meryl Swanson who's the adjoining electorate and the nearest member of the Federal Government. So perhaps contact with her might well be of assistance. Also the State Member's, Dave Lazell, and Senator Cadell who's based in Newcastle. All or any of those Members, put pressure on them as much as possible to try and get an outcome that's beneficial to the community.

With that less pleasant note, I leave you until next week, and hopefully by then, I've got some good news about the bridge at Clarence Town.

Until then, good luck and goodbye.