A PASSIONATE City of Whittlesea Council Meeting was headlined by a unanimous call from councillors demanding that the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) do its job to maintain arterial roads in the municipality, with Mayor Councillor Lawrie Cox saying “enough is enough”.
The fired-up response followed a presentation of a DTP Audit Report which highlighted more than 1300 individual defects located on the 206km of DTP-owned arterial roads in the City of Whittlesea (CoW).
The defects included everything from damage to signage and guard rails to the presence of loose litter, dead animals and dumped rubbish within DTP managed zones. The lack of mowing was also noted.
The report pointed out that many of these defects had been unresolved for more than six months now, with an additional group reportedly being left without a fix for more than two years.
Cr Cox said: “This is a priority issue for the residents of Whittlesea.”
“The fact that (the defects) sit there for two years simply because there’s a red cone attached to the broken barrier, or the fact that the rubbish sitting on the ramp off Cragieburn Road East onto the Hume Freeway has been sitting there for the better part of two years, people are saying ‘enough is enough’.”
“It’s not a political issue, we’ve had enough of it. The northern suburbs have been ignored too long.”
The CoW had previously been contracted to look after the DTP-owned roads but were advised in May 2023 that their maintenance contract would not be extended.
A DTP spokesperson told the Review that at this time, the department began transitioning to a new contract model, which they say allowed them to better plan their maintenance programs across the arterial network.
But in last year’s Community Satisfaction Survey, 28% of respondents rated the condition of the CoW’s sealed road network as poor or worse, with 88 DTP-owned locations highlighted in the process.
Deputy Mayor Councillor Blair Colwell said the report provided “irrefutable evidence” of an issue that has been clear to both residents and councillors for some time now and provides clarity to residents about who is at fault.
“I suspect many councillors have experienced the same responses from frustrated residents when we explain the responsibility lies with our state government counterparts. ‘Just fix it, you’re all as bad as each other’,” Cr Colwell said.
“Frankly, I am embarrassed that the perception is, in the community, that the City of Whittlesea is allowing these unsightly, and in many cases unsafe conditions, to persist.
“Council cannot simply absorb the responsibility for maintaining state government assets. To do so would be unfairly burdensome on our ratepayers.”
The sentiment was echoed by a number of other councillors in the room. Cr Aidan McLindon was especially vocal about the issues, calling the lack of action a “disgrace”.
“Our residents are treated by (sic) absolute contempt and this is a result of when governments get a safe seat and they go into a comfort zone,” he said.
“Advocacy has not worked. We need to demand. We need to request better.
“This state is going to almost $200 billion in debt. We have a cost of living crisis. If things were getting fixed in the process you could understand, but they’re not.
“We have state MPs sitting on their hands, and the only person benefitting in this city is the mechanics with the suspension that is being completely destroyed on our cars.”
Cr Michael Labrador did recognise that the DTP-managed Dalton Road is currently experiencing some resurfacing works, and that the recently announced statewide road blitz is a “welcome start”, but said more needs to be done across the whole of the municipality.
He added that the region’s reliance on cars is part of the reason why the roads are deteriorating so quickly, which both he and the mayor attributed to the lack of public transport options in the area.
“It’s nice to say … that public transport has been free for the past two months and is going to be half cost until the end of the year. That’s great. But if you don’t have public transport as we don’t have in the growth areas, it’s pointless,” Cr Cox said.
“We in the northern suburbs and this Council will continue to argue and advocate, irrespective of the politics. We want better.”
In their response, the DTP spokesperson said they are working with their contractors to make the Whittlesea Local Government Area a priority.
“As part of the $36.9 million Better Roadsides Blitz, we’ll be delivering a substantial amount of work across the Whittlesea LGA – including cleaning up roadsides, repairing signage and vegetation clearing,” they said.