The Tweed Shire has and will continue to see significant development taking place throughout Kingscliff with Gales Holdings and at Kings Forest and Cobaki where significant developments have been approved. Recognising the impact these developments have on local communities and their roads was a driving force behind the development of a heavy haulage charge for trucks using these roads.
The proposed draft Developer Contributions for Heavy Haulage plan will now go on exhibition for comment and is seeking to charge $0.744 per tonne for extractive industries and or processed quarried materials. A trip is a one way loaded truck with the assumed average length of 13.9km.
‘The heavy haulage plan is something I have wanted to see in the shire for a while and it is because of the damage that the larger trucks do to our roads is much more than the damage normal cars do to our roads,’ said Mayor Chris Cherry (Independent).
‘It is about a user pays system in terms of if your use is making the roads need to be redone and repaired more often then it is up to you to pay for that. I think it is a fair system.
‘I often have people in the community say to me, [about] the trucks are making this damage, and they say ‘you are charging them for it aren’t you?’ No, we are actually not.
‘I think it is a really good thing that we are putting forward that we do do that. And I think that it is not a large cost for anyone but it all adds up to help keep our roads in good condition. As we saw from the community strategic plan it’s incredibly important to our community. So this is something we are trying to do to respond to that. So we will put it out to the community and see what they think.’
The plan will be on exhibition for 28 days.
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