Have your say on road review

BASS Coast Shire is reviewing its Road Management Plan 2017 (RMP) with input from the community and stakeholders being sought until Friday, March 25.

The purpose of the review is to determine if service levels are appropriate and in line with community expectations.

The current RMP covers the standards by which council maintains public roads and footpaths, and sets inspection intervals and identifies hazards that will be repaired.

The community can provide feedback about any suggested changes to the existing plan, including new standards, current standards maintained or changes to the current standards.

The review doesn’t cover standards for road construction.

Major and arterial roads are managed by Department of Transport (VicRoads) and are not covered by the RMP.

Council manages a public road network of 925km and a pathways network of 276km.

In accordance with the Road Management Act 2004, council in its role as the Co-ordinating Road Authority is required to perform road management functions including:

• Take action with respect to road defects that it is aware of or would have been aware of but for the failure to conduct an inspection that it had a duty to perform.

• Council is deemed to be aware of a defect if; the defect was found on an inspection; or a defect as measured against any relevant standard was reported and recorded in council’s Customer Request system.

• Provide and maintain a network of roads for use by all road users whether they be motorists, pedestrians or cyclists.

Aspects of the RMP include ‘Response Codes’ which are designated from A to E, and indicate the action to be taken and the response time for addressing a defect, that exceeds the stated intervention level on a particular road or pathway.

Response codes and times are defined as:

• A: Within eight hours of council having recorded a defect exceeds intervention level;

• B: Within 24 hours of council having recorded a defect exceeds intervention level;

• C: Within one week of council having recorded a defect exceeds intervention level;

• D: Within one month of council having recorded a defect exceeds intervention level; and

• E: Within three months of council having recorded a defect exceeds intervention level.

Once the feedback period closes, council will collate and review all submissions, and a report will be presented at a future council meeting.

The RMP will be available for examination until Friday, March 25, at Customer Service Centres located at Wonthaggi, Cowes, Inverloch or Grantville during office hours.

Submissions can be directed to council’s Asset Management coordinator Simon Harris at PO Box 118 Wonthaggi, 3995, via email at basscoast@basscoast.vic.gov.au by Friday, March 25.

Alternatively, contact 1300 BCOAST (226 278) or (03) 5671 2211.

Better road conditions

Island Voice’s Linda Marston said the organisation believes council should re-evaluate the whole process of road and pathway maintenance in Bass Coast.

“While the response times for investigation and repair seem reasonable on paper, the simple fact that council roads are becoming increasingly potholed, or have been repaired so often that they look like quilts, indicates that either the response timeframes or the repairs conducted are inadequate,” she said.

“There is no indication that there is any recording and analysis of the frequency of defects being reported on certain roads.”