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Last Updated: Tuesday, 15 November 2022 16:35

Published: Tuesday, 15 November 2022 13:16

Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) will set aside $10 million over a five year period to perform upgrades on existing Lower Order Road matters to bring them up to a minimum access standard gravel road.

While acknowledging this amount of funding wouldn’t be enough to address all of the formed/maintained, unformed/maintained and unformed/unmaintained roads in the Region, TRC Infrastructure Committee Chair Cr Carol Taylor said this was an indication of Council’s desire to improve the quality of the roads in all areas of the Toowoomba Region.

“The reality is we have the second longest road network of any local government area within Queensland and that requires a considerable amount of funding to maintain and upgrade, as 89% of our road network is designated to management by local government,” she said.

“The wet weather events over the past year have also significantly exacerbated the condition of the roads and it will take a substantial amount of time to complete flood recovery works.

“In addition to the maintained road network, we also have a large number of unformed and unmaintained roads that due to legacy issues, including those from the varied development policies of the former Councils, would be good to upgrade if it’s affordable.”

“In a perfect world everybody would have everything they want, but unfortunately we can only do so much with the budget we have.

“Funding for these roads is primarily made up of rates received from our residents so we always need to ensure we are looking at what has greater benefit for our entire community.

“The funding of $10 million will go towards improving the condition of our Lower Order Road matters over the next five years, with a review set to take place following this period.

“Our communities needs to understand that other Council priorities will be delayed due to this commitment.”

At the Ordinary Meeting of Council on 15 November, Council voted in favour of the following recommendation.

1. That appropriate processes and definitions be included in the review of the Toowoomba Region Planning Scheme to achieve the performance outcome that subsequent dwelling applications must have direct property access to a road defined in Council’s Road Register as at least a minimum access standard gravel (rural) or sealed (urban) road maintained by Council.
2. That Council prioritise $2 million annually within the sustainability target, commencing 2023/24, toward an initial five (5) year program of works to rectify existing Lower Order Road matters to achieve minimum access standard road for Lower Order Roads, defined in Council’s Road Register as formed/maintained, unformed/maintained, and unformed/unmaintained, to achieve a minimum access standard gravel road defined in Council's Road Register.
3. That, prior to 2023/24 budget formation, Council considers at a future Infrastructure Committee Meeting, a variety of capital delivery and maintenance methods in an effort to determine a sustainable approach for the rural (gravel) roads including reviewing Council Policy 2.21 Road Network Upgrade and Extension (January 2012).
4. That road signage is implemented at the discretion of the road manager (General Manager, Infrastructure Services Group).