5,000 signature petition to fix The Dip at Wamberal

Member for Robertson, Ms Lucy Wicks receiving a copy of the petition from Ms Lindy HewittMember for Robertson, Ms Lucy Wicks receiving a copy of the petition from Ms Lindy Hewitt

Member for Robertson , Ms Lucy Wicks, has vowed to take up the cause to fi x the notorious strip of Wamberal’s Willoughby Rd called The Dip.

According to Ms Wicks, there have been 20 accidents at The Dip, including the July crash, which caused the death of teenager, Jackson Williams. Ms Wicks was responding to the online petition started by local nurse, Ms Lindy Hewett, which has now gathered well over 5,000 signatures. “I am always struck by this community, but particularly when something happens like this, the way we work together, back each other, and in something like this, a horrifi c tragedy that no one wants to ever see happen,” Ms Wicks told ABC Central Coast in an interview on July 29.

“5,000 people have put their name to this petition and it is still growing,” she said. “We know it is not going to be fi xed overnight, but I am certainly not going to rest until it is done and I know this community won’t allow us to rest until it is done either. “I am really pleased to see the way three levels of government are working together. “I think we all want to see a safer traffi c solution here, so we will be fi ghting for this, every single day, until we see a black spot actually no longer a black spot on Willoughby Rd.” Ms Wicks said Jackson’s death had been “an unfortunate, horrific situation you wouldn’t wish upon any family or any community.

“I think all of us feel, particularly if you have kids, I think you feel that great sense of grief, and I grieve and I know that many others in this community are grieving along with parents, Michelle and Mark, and with their family for Jackson, even though we didn’t know him.” She said: “Every single community leader on the Central Coast is united in our determination to ensure something does happen.” Ms Wicks said she has been working with the Central Coast Council, the member for Terrigal, Mr Adam Crouch and the relevant federal minister to secure funding to fi x The Dip. Mr Crouch has been liaising with the NSW minister for transport, Ms Wicks said. “I will be taking the petition to Canberra as one of the fi rst things I do when parliament resumes, and I will be fi ghting to get this road fixed every single day until it is,” she said.

Interview transcript, Jul 29, 2016 Lucy Wicks, member for Robertson