Maria Grist
ON THE 18th March 2009, Kentish Council erected two boom gates over Lorinna Rd, effectively forcing residents and visitors to use the longer, narrower and more dangerous southern road access into Lorinna Valley.
Council erected these boom gates after a protracted battle with local residents. The recently-retired General Manager, Mark Crouch, pushed through legislation for the boom gates to be erected prior to his retirement, citing liability issues as the reason for the legislation.
Consulting Engineers Pitt and Sherry however are of the opinion that the road only needs minimal work to be rendered usable.
Feeling has been running high in Lorinna Valley for months, as the stoush between Valley residents and the Council has continued unabated.
In a “you break my toys, I’ll break yours” move, the Council has warned residents that if they take the matter into their own hands and break down the boom gates, they (the Council) will in turn destroy bridges on the road.
The Valley now has only one access road, which in the case of a local emergency such as a bushfire, could render the area a death-trap.
Clearly the council has lost sight of the bigger picture and has worked itself into a position where they feel they cannot afford to lose face by doing the logical thing.
Maybe it is time for amalgamation with Devonport council, who will not have enough time on their hands to spend on playing such elaborate games on a very small local community.
Maria Grist
Below are edited extracts from a recent email from a valley resident:
On 20th March, Geraldine and Bart met the Council with Minister David Llewellyn (our local member for Lyons). In their company were Andy Turner, senior partner with Pitt and Sherry Consulting Engineers, and David Hugo from Pitt and Sherry. They have extensive experience with difficult roads such as Jacobs Ladder, St Mary’s Pass, East Timor works etc. Their credentials are unchallengeable, and they came with the message that Lorinna Road could be returned to its original condition.
The Council had our new GM and engineer Risdon Knightley, Mayor Don Thwaites, Tony ? – a geotechnical person working with Chris Martin (Botts Road extension designer) and Shaun McElwaine the lawyer. They were prepared. McElwaine … was there to throw the liability card into everything. Tony? was there to spruik the Botts Road extension.
We had hoped to come away with the Council relinquishing control of the Road to the State, with Lorinna Works being guided by Pitt and Sherry in getting local contractors to restore Lorinna Road. Lorinna Works would report back to the State through an agency, committee or Minister of the State government. Pitt and Sherry were very supportive and clearly made the case that this was feasible from an engineering and road building perspective, and they were ready and willing to work with us.
David Llewellyn came as our local member, and to advocate for Council to consider the impacts of their actions on local residents. He also asked them to consider working co-operatively with the community to resolve the impasse. He made it clear that in his opinion any funding for a Botts Road option would be very unlikely. The tenure of Lorinna Road does not fall within any of his ministerial responsibilities so his hands were somewhat tied there. It became clear early there would be no moving of control from the Council. McElwaine made sure that the liability exposure was the prime concern of Council. Andy Turner said how other Councils found ways to handle risk, such as Launceston Council with the Trevallyn Gorge.
In the end, Andy Turner put up a compromise asking if would Council consider a system where residents sign a compact with Council where they are made aware of the risks on Lorinna Road and are then given a key for specific use of Lorinna Road. Shaun McElwaine didn’t know the implications of that, and said he would need to research that. The outcome of the meeting was that Shaun would check it out and get back to Council. On asking about the time frame, it was clear that a meeting of Council would need to OK Shaun doing that, and the next meeting of Council would need to OK the system. So the May meeting would be the earliest to move to keys being available. The likelihood of McElwaine coming back with a positive verdict, and the likelihood of the Councillors voting to help the Lorinna people is up with the flying pigs.
We had a good sharing of views, and the opinion of Pitt and Sherry that Lorinna Road is a viable access is well and truly established. Minister David Llewellyn was genuinely dismayed by the position of Council, and is under no illusions about where they are in relation to the Lorinna community. But the power to control our fate is well and truly with Council and they are unmoved.
In the longer term, our best bet is the abolition of Kentish Council. Andy Turner was clear that most larger Councils are much more professional in their risk management/community relations activities. In the short term – what to do?
In post meeting discussions, local concillor and valley resident Annie Willock is clear that we need to get Council to open the gates, not us.
After the meeting, Risdon was asked if he would guarantee that the bridges would not be destroyed. He would not give that commitment. It is clear that the gates will be opened by someone fairly soon, given the level of disgust and distress over the Council actions.
Discussions about the Botts Road extension seem to indicate that reference to an interim gravel road has gone. Council referred to a two lane bitumen road at $1.3 million. Considering they have just about blown the $500,000 they borrowed, that is a big hill to climb. But that won’t stop them proceeding with the design, development application etc. Tony? didn’t get to present the revised Botts Road presentation, although the projector was set up and running.
