Council says State Government merger spending guidelines are delaying ‘emergency’ repair work on retaining walls in North Sydney

EMERGENCY work on five damaged retaining walls in Sydney’s north have been delayed by weeks because of council merger spending guidelines.

This retaining wall on Milson Rd, Cremorne Point, requires urgent repairs.

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THE “emergency” repair of five council retaining walls have been put on hold because of restrictions imposed by council mergers, the North Sydney Council has said.

The problem retaining walls labelled as in need of “emergency” repair by North Sydney Council, are at five locations in Cremorne, Cremorne Point, two in Neutral Bay and Wollstonecraft.

A council report said some of the walls have already collapsed due to recent flash floods.

Problems include rocks falling onto a footpath and signs of sinking or caving on a roadway.

“Extreme weather has contributed to the collapse of some of the walls,” a council spokeswoman said.

She explained that repair work is planned to start in August and expected to be completed by December.

In the interim the council said it has ensured the walls are safe until works can start.

This wall on Kurraba Rd, Neutral Bay, requires urgent attention.

“The work must be placed on public exhibition because the cost of the work is over the threshold set out in the Guidelines for Merger Proposals published by the Office of Local Government,” the spokeswoman said.

But the Office of Local Government said its merger guidelines “do not operate to prevent councils from undertaking emergency works of the nature contemplated by North Sydney Council”.

“It is important that councils continue to provide business as usual to their communities during the merger proposal period,” an OLG spokeswoman said.

Under rules laid down by the Office of Local Government there should be “clear and compelling” grounds for spending outside the adopted budget during the merger proposal period.

If the amount is greater than $250,000 or one per cent of the rates revenue, whichever is the larger, the council then has to advertise and invite public comments. It must be on public exhibition for 14 days.

North Sydney Council is being lined up to merge with Mosman and Willoughby under a State Government drive.

Councils across Sydney have already been amalgamated but North Sydney is fighting the merger in court.

Barriers have been erected around this wall on Macpherson Rd, Cremorne.

At Macpherson St in Cremorne a wall below the roadway level has collapsed into a front garden. The SES attended has placed emergency tape top stop residents from using a suspended footbridge.

At Milson Road in Cremorne Point “immediate action” is required as there are signs of subsidence in the footpath and roadway. Milson Rd is a bus route.

At Shellcove Rd in Neutral Bay “large rocks” are falling onto the footpath as a result of erosion of the embankment.