By Mikayla van Loon
A petition has been raised with Yarra Ranges Council to seal Wedderburn Crescent in Mount Evelyn after funding was cut from the Roads for Community project.
Lead petitioner Liam Jackson spoke on behalf of fellow residents at the council meeting on 28 February to encourage the council to undertake a feasibility study into co-funding the sealing.
“[It’s a] dirt road which unfortunately the funding like many others has been pulled out by the Federal government, obviously residents and the council alike are naturally quite frustrated about it,” he said.
“I believe all the dirt roads, it’s really important for numerous reasons, including safety, that they are to be sealed but Wedderburn Crescent in particular being central to town, you do have the Mount Evelyn Girl Guides, the Mount Evelyn Hall [and] it’s opposite the aqueduct trail.”
Being quite the thoroughfare for traffic cutting through to Birmingham Road, Mr Jackson said the street can be quite dangerous, particularly when cars “take advantage of doing a few burnouts”.
Compiling a petition of 13 signatures, Mr Jackson said most of the residents are on board to come to some arrangement with the council for a special charge scheme.
“I know the council has submitted to the Federal government to reinstate the funding, but I’m not going to be holding my breath too long on the government throwing the money back but we’ll see what happens,” he said.
“We did get a petition and the majority of those in the area or in Wedderburn Crescent still want it to be sealed.
“We understand like previous areas that have had their roads sealed there will be an additional cost to this and we understand that that’s got to be shared between council and residents.”
Mr Jackson said residents would be satisfied if the surfacing of the road was completed without curb and channel works if that would reduce costs for the council.
Councillor Fiona McAllister said she appreciated the range of suggestions and options presented by the residents of Wedderburn Crescent to help the process of coming up with a solution.
“I’m sure everyone in this room shares your frustration of the timing,” she said.
“We understand the importance of safety and sealed roads, so it’s useful to hear your suggestion of the option of a rural seal which I guess is the language used for the no curb and channel.
“Also your interest in whatever a special charge scheme looks like, having a conversation about that as well.”
Since the Federal government funding was pulled in the October 2022 budget, Yarra Ranges Council has been investigating ways to ensure roads can be sealed that had been identified under the program.
Cr Tim Heenan said there was a substantial amount of roads needing sealing in the Mount Evelyn area which have been left in limbo.
“We are still unpacking all of the negatives that came out of the withholding of the $94 million from the Federal government for the whole of the Yarra Ranges,” he said.
“I’ll be looking very seriously at how we can get some started but the process of how we’re going to go about doing that hasn’t even been spoken about.”
The council is still a month or so away from fully understanding its position to then provide answers about road sealing to the community.
Councillors unanimously voted to refer the request for a special charge scheme on Wedderburn Crescent to the correct council department for investigation.
