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Gravel Road Debate: Southern Council Puts Off Decision
A decision on reverting sealed roads back to gravel has been delayed by a southern council.
On Wednesday, Southland District Council discussed three roads which it was struggling to maintain amid funding issues - Crooked Rd near Riversdale, Waterloo Rd near Mossburn and Wilanda Downs Rd near Ohai.
Mayor Rob Scott said roading was the main priority for ratepayers and a constant point of discussion at the council.
He had met with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) recently and discussed the risk of the region's roads degrading to a point where they couldn't be brought back to their current state.
During the council meeting, staff sought direction from elected members on investing in low-volume sealed roads moving forward, recommending they be reverted to gravel when no longer economical to maintain.
At the centre of the issue was a lack of funding from NZTA Waka Kotahi, which the council said had compounded over successive long-term plans.
But a decision to take a more cost-effective route with the three roads was left on the table after councillor Matt Wilson said Waterloo Rd residents had highlighted issues with their patch months before things came to a head at the end of last year.
Wilson said members of that community had tried to engage the council and planned to talk to the community board on Monday.
"That community's been trying to talk to council since May last year, to address safety concerns of the road...they saw it coming.
"They're there and willing to engage in the conversation."
Waterloo Rd was highlighted as a key concern by staff because of its scale and high use.
More than 600m was in disrepair, compared to 490m at Wilanda Downs Rd and 200m at Crooked Rd.
The council will undertake essential work on the roads in question before a decision on whether to revert them to gravel is made at a later date.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
Local Democracy Reporting
Content from the Local Democracy Reporting (LDR) service is published by Scoop as a registered New Zealand Media Outlet LDR Partner.
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