Message from the Mayor: 1 December 2023

Published on 01 December 2023

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

On Wednesday evening this week Dungog town was hit with about two inches of rain in the space of an hour. Obviously any downpour such as that causes damage, or buildings run the risk of being damaged. And regrettably, the Library suffered some water damage. Damage that it would appear has been occasioned through tiles in the whole section of the building, the emergency exit door at the rear of the premises, together with some issues involving guttering.

The issues are being assessed. The library is closed and will be closed until Tuesday with a further assessment to be made on Monday. The reason for the closure is of course that there's a need to dry out the carpet and the walls to avoid mildew growing and that's taking place at the moment together with building assessments by the contractors with respect to the new section and council engaged builders with respect to the whole part of the building.

None of the library's internal infrastructure was impacted in any way. It's merely the fabric of the building. It's merely the walls, ceilings and carpet. But the electronics and all other things within the library were unaffected. So the moment the carpet and walls are dry to be safe, then the library can reopen but at the moment that's anticipated to be Tuesday.

The rain also had an impact on the Waste Management Facility which is only available to 4WD vehicles. As things dry out that will of course change. So if you have a need to visit the Waste Management Facility I urge you to make contact with them to see whether the vehicle you want to take can gain access to the tip face or not. This will be ever changing as the conditions dry up.

Also at the Waste Management Facility, Essential Energy needs to carry out electrical works in the vicinity of the facility, which will result in electricity being cut from the facility from 9am to 1pm on the 13th December. So without electricity the weigh bridge can't operate, and the payment facilities can't operate so it's necessary for the facility to be closed.  So that's 9am-1pm on the 13th of December.

The week has seen much chatter on Facebook and social media about roadworks and this time in particular, Stroud Hill Road and it's probably an opportune time for there to be chatter about Stroud Hill because tenders went out last week for the rehabilitation of 4.5 kilometers of that road.

It's anticipated that a tender will be awarded to the successful contractor at the February 2024 meeting of Council. The course of the chatter suggests that priority was being given to roads other than Stroud Hill Rd such as Clarence Town Road. Well, that's correct.

The reason that Clarence Town Road is getting a significant amount of work is that in 2016, or prior to the 2016 Federal election, Council received $20 million for the rehabilitation of Clarence Town Road between Dungog and Raymond Terrace, or Dungog and the shire boundary, and Port Stephens Council received money for the balance of the road from the shire boundary to Raymond Terrace. That funding went into suspension for some time with a change of local member but was reinstated in 2021-22 and as everyone's aware work has continued on that road.

There is funding for the 4.5 kilometers of rehabilitation of Stroud Hill Rd. Work has been ongoing in trying to get designs done for that road over the past couple of years. And there's been significant delays regrettably in that process. We are now at the point that it's gone out to tender.

The other reason that priority is given to Clarence Town Rd is that it carries six times the amount of traffic. So six times the volume of traffic and none of those regrettably that were responding on social media made that point. It's very significant. Yes, Stroud Hill Rd is not very good. But it's obvious why priority is given to those roads that carry more traffic.

Martins Creek Quarry has come back into the frame again, with the proceedings before the Land and Environment Court which have been commenced by the Quarry operator, appealing against the decision of the independent Planning Commission. The proceedings came before the court this last week when applications were made by Dungog Council and Maitland City Council to be joined as parties to those proceedings. Those orders were made and Council is now a party to the proceedings. There are a large number of objectors, who also appeared before the court seeking to have their opportunity to be heard when the matter is dealt with in due course.

The matter next comes before the court on the 21st of March 2024, when the compulsory conference under Section 34 of the relevant legislation will take place. That's a conference which the purpose of which is to try and resolve the dispute. Whether that will be successful or not will depend upon all of the parties and the issues that are before the court at that time. Those issues will be codified in the coming months when the parties have to file their statements of contentions which will make all parties aware of what the issues are.

So I think that probably brings us to an end for this week. So until next week good luck and goodbye.