Roads still 'falling apart' 26 months after landslip

A COMMUNITY meeting to call for action will be held on Thursday.

Concerned residents at Oakey Creek Road in July 2018, which is one of the many roads still needing repair after the 2017 floods. Picture: Marc Stapelberg

SOME roads in Georgica are "falling apart", still unfixed 26 months after the devastating 2017 flood, and resident's are demanding answers.

Oakey Creek Rd was barricaded and closed off to all traffic after the weather event washed away half the road and caused a dangerous landslip.

In July last year, Lismore City Council had engaged up to four contractors to undertake flood restoration works on its gravel road network.

They reported to have completed flood restoration works to more than 110km of unsealed road network out of a total 184km for an amount of $5 million.

The remaining 74km of unsealed road net work, which included Oakey Creek Rd, was expected to be completed by the end of 2018, weather permitting.

Letters were sent to residents saying contractors would start work on the road in April, but May came around and two weeks ago the road was closed and barricaded off again.

Georgica resident Murray Ings said upset and disappointed members of the community were so fed up waiting for action they had called a community meeting over the issue.

"Issac Smith had said the works would go ahead, we had the letters about it starting in April and then it just went dead," Mr Ings said.

"We've been asking for action for eight months after the flood and we've never been able to get a straight answer, and the answers always differ.

"The community has had enough.

"The detour road is pretty bad onto Gwyne Road too - that's just a gravel road and with more traffic using the road now - it's just falling apart as well."

Mr Ings said meeting organiser Jason Banks had invited Lismore mayor Isaac Smith to the meeting but he had yet to receive a reply.

"It's appalling how we've been treated out here," he said.

"Council paints a rainbow and expect us to appreciate it and our vehicles are getting smashed out here.

"They are still sucking the rates out of us and now they are talking about increasing them. It can't carry on like this.

"We are up in arms, we just want to know the future of our roads."

Mr Ings said a bridge on Mountain Top Rd was also of significant concern.

"The school bus uses it eight times a day - one of the bridges there is just disgusting... half of it has washed off, the guard rails are lying in the creek itself and there isn't any safety signs up."

He said the shocking condition of the roads was costing locals in car repairs and was impacting livelihoods.

"I'm a local private forester and usually I put in about 4000 tonnes of firewood into Lismore each year but this is the third year in a row I haven't been able to do that because I can't get a float up here to get the machinery to work it," he said.

"I'm not the only one."

He invited fellow concerned members of the public to attend the community meeting which will be held at 7pm this Thursday, June 6 at Jiggi Hall.

Lismore City Council has been contacted for comment.