A paper road that has been causing some controversy on Manchester Road at Bindera has received Gloucester Shire Council's support to be sold to the property owner through whose land it runs. The issue came before councillors at this month's meeting and after some discussion the motion to support property owner Des Dillon's application to purchase the road from the Department of Primary Industries was passed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
For story on Des Dillon's paper road in Bindera, click here.
"It's only taken a year," called out a member of the public amongst the 15 or so who had come to observe proceedings.
Council’s initial submission to the DPI had argued for the road to stay in public land but leased to Mr Dillon. Whilst there was concern that selling the unformed crown land road would limit future access on that side of the river for recreational users, council's manager of technical services Gil Gendron said that council had re-assessed the matter and decided that existing river access points and remaining possible alternatives would be sufficient for the future. Mr Gendron said he had also made contact with Roads and Maritime Services who had also not supported the sale in their submission to the DPI but Mr Gendron soon realised the RMS’ representative had not seen or visited the unformed road to gauge its suitability.
Further decisions concerning other unformed roads in the area have not yet been made.
Regardless of council's decision to not object to its sale, the ultimate decision to sell the road to Mr Dillon remains with the DPI, who have yet to make an announcement on the matter.
Paper roads across the state:
The crown road system was established in colonial times, often without reference to the topography of the land.
“From the time of settlement of NSW it became apparent that many of these roads would not be required. It is appropriate to close and sell roads that are not required for access by the general public,” a spokesperson for the Department of Primary Industries said.
As a result the government, responsible for over 500,000 hectares of Crown roads the majority of which have not been constructed, has a program to close and dispose of unnecessary crown roads. This will ultimately benefit “landholders by providing them the opportunity in incorporate additional land into their property, improving security of tenure and... potential.”
Crown Roads have approximately 6,500 road closure applications pending. So far the program has raised $46 million since 2012 through the selloff of almost 7000 roads, which sell for on average $11,000 each. They said that 747 road closures have been refused.
