Lawson Rd, Badgerys Creek: Resident claims Liverpool Council cannot afford to fix potholes

Residents near the western Sydney international airport are continuing the fight to fix a road torn to shreds by heavy vehicles. This is why it won’t be permanently fixed any time soon.

A longstanding fight between Badgerys Creek residents and their local council over the state of a pothole-filled road has continued, with one resident claiming the local council does not have the money to properly fix it.

Badgerys Creek residents are continuing the fight to fix a pothole-ridden which was torn to shreds by heavy vehicles upgrading a different road, but the issue is unlikely to be permanently resolved anytime soon.

Residents told this masthead in December they were furious at the state of Lawson Rd, which was left in a “dangerous” state after heavy trucks used it as a detour while the nearby Martin Rd intersection was upgraded between mid-September and late December.

The road has since been repaired to some extent, but residents are still not happy.

“How can that be a repair?”

Diana Vukovic, who has been spearheading the battle to get something done about the state of the road, said she had been told the repairs were temporary and called it “a band-aid solution”.

She said the smaller potholes had been fixed, but the bigger holes had been compacted with a different material and not covered with asphalt.

Potholes on Lawson Rd after they were recently repaired. Picture: Supplied

“How can that be a repair? If we get heavy rain, it will wash out again,” she said.

She said she had been in talks with Liverpool Council over the matter, and claimed deputy mayor Peter Harle told her the council did not have the money to repair the council-owned road properly.

Diana Vukovic has been lobbying for the road to be fixed for months. Picture: Tileah Dobson

This is despite Ms Vukovic and other residents paying high land rates due to the zoning in the area, due to the close proximity to the Western Sydney International Airport.

When will the roads be fixed permanently?

Mr Harle said council was not broke, but money which could be used to repair the road in one hit was not allowed to be used for such purposes, and instead they had to rely on developer contributions.

He said it was a lot more financially worthwhile for council to wait until the area was completely developed.

Mr Harle said the council could fill the potholes at least once a week, but because Lawson Rd was not created with heavy vehicle usage in mind, the work would be ruined while heavy vehicles are using it and need to be redone again.

Additionally, he said the land on either side of Lawson Rd was fragmented, meaning it could not all be sold to one developer at once and instead has individual plots which can be put up for sale at different times, at the discretion of the owner.

Liverpool Deputy Mayor Peter Harle said there were multiple reasons why Lawson Rd was not being permanently fixed.

This means when there are two different developers on either side of the road, they fix one side each, and when one side is being developed and the other is not, only one side of the road is fixed.

“So we really have to wait until the development has occurred on both sides of the road and that’s the problem in our areas,” Mr Harle said.

“(Council) is not prepared to do the whole lot simply because when the developer goes in and does the work, they do (the roads), not council.”

He said a motion was moved at the council meeting on Wednesday night to approach the state and federal governments for $50m to bring all the roads in the LGA up to scratch.

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun has also been contacted for comment.

Council “sympathetic” to resident frustrations

A Liverpool Council spokesman said the road had been repaired to Australian standards and that the council were “sympathetic” to resident concerns.

He said Transport for NSW was asked by council to repair the road after it was damaged, as it was a condition of allowing the detour in the first place that Lawson Rd be kept in working order.

“In the meantime council will monitor the road and repair as needed,” he said.

Transport for NSW has no record of any such agreement with Liverpool Council, with a spokesman telling this masthead the maintenance and repair of council-owned roads was the council’s responsibility.

“As such, we understand Liverpool City Council has undertaken some recent repairs,” he said.