Penrith City Councillor Glenn Gardiner is dismayed at the state of Londonderry roads after his bid for more money to fix drainage issues failed at Council earlier this month.
Gardiner, a North Ward Councillor, put forward a motion to Council last week to allocate $7.1 million towards fixing issues identified by a Rural Drainage Audit Report commissioned by Council.
The motion was voted against by all Councillors except for Councillor Gardiner, and Independent Councillors Sue Day and Kevin Crameri.
The issue was tabled for after September’s local government election for the new Council to assess.
This week Gardiner took the Weekender around to see certain spots in Londonderry that he deems critical. The first one being on Purcell Road where excessive water flow has made the road narrower than it should be.
“It’s so obvious that I struggle to understand the concept that we needed a report to say that we needed to clean the drains,” Gardiner said.
“Then to take two years to get that report and the report comes out and there is no funding and there’s no movement to try and gather some funding and then I put up a good opportunity for that funding and that fails, [it’s] disappointing.
“Now that is has been set aside for the new Council to deal with, which is even more frustrating, because it was at the beginning of the current Council term that the report was commissioned.
“But, now it’s for the new Council to deal with, so that’s more time, we are probably talking October before we can have a resolution passed or a motion passed.
“It’s already years overdue. It’s embarrassing to the city, and we’ve got to wait for more time to get it fixed.”
Gardiner also highlighted Jockbett Street which is a recommended SES flood evacuation route.
“So, when there is a major Hawkesbury River flood the advised line to evacuate Agnes Banks is to evacuate along this road – SES will direct people to this road to escape from Agnes during a major flood,” Gardiner said.
He said the road becomes unusable as a flood evacuation route when there is storm water already present.
“As soon as there is local storm water you can’t escape a major flood,” Gardiner said.
“That I can’t get my head around, how that is not considered the absolute highest priority that Council have right now.
“This is huge, lives are at stake essentially and it’s just ignored and put to the side, it really upsets me.”
The final location Gardiner highlighted was Nutt Road.
“There is water crossing the road and it’s an 80km/h road, it’s a high traffic road especially on school days,” Gardiner said.
“So, you are at risk of aquaplaning but also you’ve got the risk of cars swerving to avoid the puddle and then risk injury [like a] crash.”
Gardiner challenges his fellow Councillor colleagues to visit the problem areas and see it for themselves.
“I don’t think they’ve been here; I don’t think they understand,” Gardiner said.
“I challenged them in Council [last] Monday and told them to drive down these roads… and tell me if they are happy to vote it down after doing that.”
Gardiner said the few spots he highlighted are just parts of a larger problem.
“As you see by driving around, we could have stopped at a hundred places… it’s everywhere, it’s not three or four locations,” Gardiner said.
“It’s not just Londonderry, it’s Llandilo and Berkshire Park as well with the same issues.”
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.