'Get more involved'

THE CVC was so scared it would lose funding for a second bridge it was not prepared to tell the RTA a preferred location, Concerned Citizens Committee said.

THE Clarence Valley Council was so scared it would lose funding for a second Grafton bridge it was not prepared to tell the RTA a preferred location, members of Grafton's Concerned Citizens Committee said.

Member Kim Dahl said he was "p---ed off" with the council's attitude.

"I can't believe they don't want to get involved," he said.

"We are hoping to get the council much more involved in the decision-making process."

He said the Grafton Chamber of Commerce and Industry had been trying to get the council to come up with a 20-year forward plan for the road network around Grafton.

"The council still seems to be sitting on its hands and not showing enough initiative to get out there. They are going to come back every time and say the State Government will make its own decisions about a bridge location.

"Sure enough that's true, but if you've got enough push and influence, particularly from a body like a council, they should get more involved.

"The council has been very proactive in not wanting to do anything.

"It needs to get more involved and put some pressure on the RTA to come up with some answers.

"It needs to have a long-term traffic plan with everything worked into it and present it to the RTA saying 'this is what our objectives are'."

Mayor Richie Williamson said a decision on the bridge location was not one for the council to make.

"The council has debated it and we oppose a bridge directing traffic through the CBD," he said.

"Wherever it goes it will affect a ratepayer and we shouldn't be putting one ratepayer's interest above another.

"We are absolutely for a new bridge, but we would oppose it directing traffic through the CBD.

"The RTA is acutely aware of our position."

Originally published as 'Get more involved'