Local Mullumbimby residents are saying Byron Shire Council (BSC) needs to step up and fix Morrison Avenue properly.
Residents on Morrison Avenue, Poinciana Street, and Prince Street have expressed their frustration at the appalling condition of their streets, in particular Morrison Avenue, since the pod village was installed.
‘Since 2022, all the truck movements to install the fill and pods on Prince Street mean our roads have been in a serious state of disrepair,’ Morrison Street resident, Helen Thurgood, told The Echo.
‘Trucks drove down Morrison Avenue and Poinciana Streets to enter the pod village site and then exited at the Argyle Street end of Prince Street and those are the areas that continue to be seriously impacted with potholes and road surface collapse.’
While BSC did do a big repair job on Morrison Avenue in 2023 following the pod village development, residents told The Echo that the work was falling to pieces before it was even finished.
‘It was hot, and the road surface they were putting in place was just melting so you had immediate damage as cars drove over it,’ one resident said. ‘They didn’t put in a good road base, and I guess they just used inferior materials to build the road.’
Helen outlined that the failure to put a camber on the road or install proper drainage further exacerbated the quick deterioration of the road.
Currently the northern end of Morrison Avenue is severely pitted with extensive damage to the road surface and massive potholes. This is of serious concern as there are children, people with disabilities, the elderly, and parents with prams having to traverse this section of road, that has no footpaths, along with cars and school buses.
Triggers asthma
‘The road is so degraded that it covers my house in dust when cars drive past and my daughter can no longer visit me because it exacerbates her asthma so much when she’s here,’ said Helen. ‘A bloke this morning said “I can’t believe how dangerous this road is”. It is a disgrace, I drive on the wrong side of the road because that’s the only place you can drive.’
‘This is supposed to be a sealed road. Instead, it is a crater filled strip of track that produces a massive amount of dust and debris and is dangerous to cars and pedestrians alike.’
Locals say they have repeatedly been in touch with Council staff and councillors as well as reporting the condition of the road regularly over the last four years to BSC seeking to have the road repaired properly.
‘They just don’t respond,’ said one resident and ratepayer. ‘Then we get the machine spitting sloppy bitumen at the holes now and then. It must be costing a fortune to do such a poor job of patching the road. I would prefer them to just spend the money to fix it properly. Even worse is that these shitty road repairs then just end up blocking the drains which leads to worse flooding.’
‘Our cars are getting smashed to bits because the road is in such bad condition,’ said Helen.
‘It is just a matter of time before one of the primary school kids gets an injury on the bus as they bounce along the road to Mullum Primary.’
Residents repeatedly said that they wanted BSC to focus on their basic responsibilities like roads and drains and start getting that right.
‘My concern as a resident and ratepayer is that they keep doing such a shit job and they are not fulfilling their obligations to us,’ another resident said.
‘Instead, they’re heating the pool and are looking at increasing our rates by 30 per cent? That’s just not good enough, they need to get these roads and other basic infrastructure working and properly fixed.
Council respond
BSC have told The Echo that they are aware of the community concerns.
‘Operationally we will continue to address the potholes with reactive works but we are constrained as we need a spell of dry weather before we can start,’ said a BSC spokesperson.
‘We understand that the underlying issue is far greater and are currently preparing a grant funding submission that will seek budget to undertake the required major upgrade.
‘We are hoping for federal funding to enable detailed pavement investigations and design, installation of drainage infrastructure, pavement, a bus bay, and sealed verges to allow for parent parking.
‘We are dependent upon this external funding to complete the works to the required standard.’
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