Council’s preferred option was to lease the road to the landholder rather than sell it off gave the owner control of the land without the financial burden of having to purchase it. 

It is a resolution that has raised the wrath of local landholders in the region concerned council wants to retain the power to turn the paper road into a reality. But Mr Rosenbaum’s response is very clear. 

“The decision was based on the fact that council does not want to set a precedent. Each road needs to be assessed on an individual basis,” mayor John Rosenbaum said.

“But council has never considered bulldozing a road through Mr Dillon’s property. This would be an enormous cost to ratepayers,” he said, also referring to the negative impact it would have on the farmer’s property. 

The particular road in question is mapped out through several paddocks on a cattle property near Barrington. It is just one of approximately 1, 500 hectares of crown owned ‘roads’ in the Gloucester Shire and at  800 metres long 20 metre wide runs right through fourth generation cattle farmer and timber worker Des Dillon’s farm. 

“This road has never been used. We were aware it was there but never worried about it until recently,” Mr Dillon said.

The issue risks splitting recreational river users and landowners.

For more than four decades kayakers have used Mr Dillon's private road to access the Barrington River but this unofficial arrangement was not without its challenges.

Most recently, this manifested in a way that prompted Mr Dillon to apply to purchase the paper road from the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) to prevent it from, he believed, potentially being bulldozed into existence.

The DPI sought submissions to Mr Dillon’s request and Gloucester Shire Council subsequently applied to keep the road open. Their preference was to have it leased to Mr Dillon due to a policy of ‘not closing public roads accessing rivers’ unless there is alternative access. 

 “We were just following through on our policy. In hindsight, we would seek a meeting with crown lands first... As it pans out there are other alternatives to access the river,” council’s general manager Danny Green admitted, referring to the access on Westleys Road and Manchester Road.

Mr Green said that grant money obtained for Westleys Road was not enough to do what was required and so council were waiting for additional funds. An additional $36,000 put aside for Manchester Road at the last council meeting was for work identified by council for the river’s public access point.

Mr Green said that the decision about Mr Dillon’s paper road rests with the DPI who have since informed them they would never allow a road to be built by anyone on Mr Dillon’s property. But mayor Rosenbaum remains concerned that selling off paper roads opens a “can of worms” for landowners who may not be able to afford to purchase them.

Mr Green said that council would conduct a review involving all parties within the next 12 months around kayak access points to Barrington River so they could come up with a plan for the future.

“This would not involve paper roads. No one should be concerned. We don’t have enough money for the roads we already have, let alone new ones,” he said. 

It is hopefully reassuring news for landholders such as Wayne Kerslake, who said he was now considering applying to purchase the paper road on his property which he had once felt safe to ignore.

“The issue just needs to be solved. It makes our future cloudy and should never have happened,” Mr Dillon said.

The DPI said that all submissions have been received regarding this proposed closure and are being considered alongside a site inspection report. A decision by the DPI is expected to be made shortly.