Mayors from metropolitan New South Wales councils have expressed appreciation in light of $220 million in funding being allocated to the Greater Sydney region – to help councils repair roads and potholes following extreme weather in 2022.
In November 2022, Mayors from The Hills Shire, Hawkesbury and Hornsby Shire joined Mayors from Penrith, Campbelltown and Wollondilly to seek funding for metropolitan councils after the New South Wales Government announced it would provide $50 million to regional and rural councils to address their highest priority pothole requests.
Each of the six councils, from western and north-western Sydney, were excluded from the original road funding program – the Fixing Local Roads Pothole Repair Program – despite each of them having rural areas and high numbers of potholes and road patching jobs, with some seeing their highest-ever requests for works.
The Mayors have welcomed the success of their campaign for a metropolitan council potholes repairs fund.
New South Wales Premier, Dominic Perrottet, made the announcement on 3 January, alongside Deputy Premier and Minister for Regional New South Wales, Paul Toole, and Minister for Regional Transport and Roads, Sam Farraway.
$280 million has also been allocated to regional councils to help fix the region’s respective roads.
Hawkesbury City Council Mayor, Sarah McMahon, also welcomed the funding and thanked her fellow Greater Sydney and regional mayors for their joint advocacy.
“This is a fantastic outcome. Sydney and the Hawkesbury have been suffering from the worst potholes in living memory. After six floods in three years, it has taken the combined efforts of many councils to make sure the voices of residents and motorists are finally heard,” Mayor McMahon said.
“The challenges all our councils face in tackling the pothole problem are threefold – financing, the availability of road repair contractors, and the availability of road repair materials.
“This financial year we expect to spend $1 million on pothole filling alone – the most we have ever spent in a single year. This is on top of the estimated $240 million in repairs to flood damaged roads in the Hawkesbury, and our routine roads renewal and upgrade program of $22.5 million.”
The Hills Shire Mayor, Dr Peter Gangemi, said the funding, which will be proportional to the total distance of road network within each Council area, was greatly needed especially after Council adopted its biggest ever road maintenance budget to repair its damaged roads.
“The extra funding is welcomed and will help our Council to return our roads to their previous standard,” Mayor Gangemi said.
Mayor of Hornsby Shire Council, Philip Ruddock, echoed similar sentiments.
“While we have been proactive in responding to reports of road damage to ensure safe travel for our residents, we have already expended much of the $3.2 million we had allocated for road restoration this financial year. We anticipate that a further $3-5 million is needed to address road failures,” Mayor Ruddock said.
Mayor Ruddock said Council is pleased with the funding announcement following numerous appeals to the New South Wales Government seeking funding for flood and rain damage.
“We look forward to hearing more details about the grant scheme so that we can move quickly to ensure Hornsby Shire can take the appropriate steps to ensure it receives its share of the $500 million to repair its damaged roads,” Mayor Ruddock said.
