The special rate variation proposed by MidCoast Council to address the region’s roads and bridges has been placed on hold, with the Office of Local Government ruling out 2017/18 SRV applications for NSW’s merged councils.
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The confirmation comes after MidCoast Council expressed an intent to IPART early this month to apply for a four-year special rate variation.
The SRV proposal, designed to fund a shortfall in funding for council’s road renewal program and to start the process of reducing a significant backlog of roadworks, was acknowledged by the local community as important in moving forward.
Interim general manager Glenn Handford explains, “While it’s disappointing we’re unable to make an application at this stage, the merger has allowed us to identify other funding opportunities, through efficiencies and savings, that will be dedicated to road renewal.”
MidCoast Council will also apply to the State Government to allocate $14million of the Stronger Communities funding towards the program for the area’s roads and bridges.
October and November community engagement activities provided the local community with an opportunity to understand the challenges faced in delivering improvements to the MidCoast transport network, where roads and bridges represent 76 per cent of the total value of council’s $3.3billion asset base.
“In all three former council regions communities placed a high priority on the condition of local roads, and nothing has changed,” Glenn added.
“The response we received in our recent round of community consultation and satisfaction survey was generally very positive towards a SRV as a way to make a difference now, rather than waiting and allowing further deterioration of our roads.”
With assistance from asset experts, Morrison Low, the condition of almost 50 per cent of the sealed road network across the MidCoast region has been categorised as fair to very poor.
“It’s unknown at this stage what the guidelines will be for SRV applications beyond 2017/18, but in the meantime we’ll be continuing discussions with the Government on additional opportunities for funding to assist in reducing the overall backlog on roads and bridges,” added Glenn.
For more information about the SRV application process and the guidelines, visit www.ipart.nsw.gov.au
