'Tight-knit' community's plea to seal dirt road with $150k upgrade fails

For the past two decades, residents living in Springbank Lane have watched on as the 300 metre stretch of road turns to mud when wet weather hits.

In recent months, the road located off Burrendong Way became so bad that JR Richards and Sons - the waste management company responsible for taking away the city's garbage - failed on multiple occasions to collect their rubbish.

According to Springbank resident Len Elliott, JR Richards started sending a smaller truck to avoid getting bogged, but put green, yellow and red bin waste into the same truck.

"If there's wet weather, the garbage trucks just don't use it," he said at the Orange City Council meeting on June 18.

He spoke for roughly five minutes to plead the case of why council should pay $150,000 to seal 130 metres of the road.

"For 20 years we have watched other areas of Orange develop," Mr Elliott said.

"We have watched other roads being re-surfaced across the town.

"When it rains as it has been lately, the water runs down (the hill) very quickly and the road narrows as it deteriorates. It narrows into one lane and it's dangerous. A serious accident is going to happen eventually."

Councillors Glenn Floyd and Kevin Duffy both spoke in favour of allocating money into the 2024/25 budget to seal the road.

"I fully support what the families are saying about this street needing to be upgraded sooner than later ... 100 per cent behind this," Cr Floyd added.

During the meeting, council's director of technical services, Ian Greenham confirmed there was a priority list of roads around town in need of fixing. However, the sealing of gravel roads did not factor into this list.

He then referenced previous projects where residents put in their own money - up to 50 per cent - towards works.

Mr Greenham said Springbank residents had rejected this type of idea during 2021.

"The residents along Springbank Lane have bought a parcel of land and developed it on road that is unsealed," he said.

"To then expect council to pay for the sealing of the road is probably a little bit rich."

The director did however slam JR Richards for "not fulfilling" their obligations and noted their contract was up for renewal in 2025.

Concerns about whether spending $150,000 on a road that has seven residencies on it was worth it were also raised. In the end, the motion failed six votes to four.

Speaking in the days following the decision, Springbank residents Graham Baker and Adam Novotny expressed their disappointment.

"We're all ratepayers. You want something for your money," Mr Novotny said.

"You can't say we haven't been patient but it's a shame for the residents."

Mr Baker said all they could do now was try again in 2025.

"We're not asking for much and it would have cost a lot less had it been done years ago," he added.

"It's just a pain in the arse."

Council previously resolved to accept a new development subdivision code which wouldn't have allowed Springbank Lane to be developed into seven lots without the road being sealed.