Calls for NSW Government to take over Wollondilly’s main roads – make your voice heard!
Posted on: 15.06.2022
Wollondilly Council has renewed its calls for the NSW Government to review and reclassify key regional roads as State roads, so it takes over management of these busy main roads and enables Council’s limited funds to be focussed on local road repairs.
Council is investing more money, resources and time than ever before to fix the Shire’s 870km road network following six months of wet weather, storms and flooding. Unfortunately, a large portion of Council’s limited roads budget is continuing to go into managing these busier thoroughfares.
Council is calling on the State to take ownership of major roads like Remembrance Driveway, Silverdale Road, Menangle Road and Montpelier Drive, allowing Council to focus its limited funds on local roads for local residents.
It’s time for the community to make its voice heard.
Mayor Matt Gould said, “Council is working hard to address our legacy road issues and bring our roads to the standard the community rightly expects. However, our community really gets a raw deal when it comes to state managed roads, and we are treated really poorly compared to how all our neighbouring councils are.”
“Major roads like Remembrance Driveway and Menangle Road are State managed in surrounding councils, yet inexplicably become council managed as soon as they cross into Wollondilly.”
“Reclassification of these roads would make the NSW Government responsible for the funding, maintenance and repairs for these high traffic volume roads, and this would free up the millions of dollars council spends every year on roads like Silverdale Road and Remembrance Driveway to be put back into repairing other roads across the Shire which desperately need work.”
“We aren’t asking for special treatment. We are just asking that the types of roads that are managed by the State Government in neighbouring councils such as Camden, Penrith and Wingecarribee are also managed by the State in Wollondilly.”
“The State Government budget is huge compared to Council’s budget, and they need to spend funds where the community wants them to – on our roads.”
““The State Government is actually undertaking a review of regional roads at the moment – but Wollondilly has been explicitly excluded from the review. This isn’t fair to our communities and we deserve to be included and for our busiest roads to be made State roads.”
“To make this happen we need your support – contact the Roads Ministers and our local MP to join the push for the state to take responsibility for our main roads.”
The pressure on the road network is only expected to intensify as Wollondilly continues to grow and traffic through the Shire to other major growth centres escalates.
Council is asking community members to contact Nathaniel Smith MP (Member for Wollondilly), Natalie Ward (NSW Minister for Metropolitan Roads) and Samuel Farraway
(NSW Minister for Regional Transport and Roads) to support the call to reclassify Wollondilly’s major connecting roads.
To send a direct email to your State Government representatives in support of this call, head to the Wollondilly Road Reclassification page on our website.