Residents of Waratah St, Bateau Bay, are calling for a permanent fix to the badly degraded road, amid safety concerns for children attending Bateau Bay Public School.
They complained last week that Central Coast Council had reneged on a commitment to look at urgent repair of crater-like potholes along the busy thoroughfare, advising that an inspection of the problem is not likely until next year with action unlikely to be taken before 2025.
After CCN asked Council for comment, crews moved in on July 26 to make pothole repairs.
But Fay Semple, who has been pushing for a permanent fix to the problem for more than a year, said she had no confidence the pothole repairs would last long.
“Last year, after we had all that heavy rain, the street was an utter mess and the potholes were quite deep,” she said.
“There is a school in the street so there are multiple cars using it every day to drop off and pick up children and it is also a bus route.
“As the potholes continued to get worse, I contacted Council last year and was basically told it would cost too much money to fix them.
“So I canvassed residents and parents doing the school drop-off and collected more than 100 names on a petition and Member for The Entrance David Mehan came out to take a look and support our calls on Council for action.
“Just days after his visit trucks were out there repairing the potholes but it was a superficial fix which wasn’t going to last and the holes soon reappeared.”
Semple said she feared the latest pothole fix would also give way as soon as there was heavy rain.
She said some parents had told her they had seen cars ignoring children on the crossing as they attempted to weave around potholes.
“I know there are many streets which need potholes repaired, but this is a major safety issue with so many children crossing this street every day,” she said.
“It’s not just the potholes – other parts of the road are breaking up as well.”
Semple has lived in the street for 43 years.
“In all that time there has been no redoing of the road apart from one asphalt sprinkling, which again was a superficial job,” she said.
“In the past 18 months I have had to replace seven tires on my car.
“Four of them were perhaps getting a little old, but three of them needed to be replaced as a direct result of pothole damage.
“I understand this is a problem all over the region and there are probably roads in worse condition but when it comes to the safety of school children they should be taking more notice.
“To say I am disappointed is an understatement.
“I don’t know if Council realises just how many cars use this street on a daily basis.”
Mehan is calling on Council to provide a permanent fix.
“This isn’t good enough; Council needs to … fix Waratah St this year,” he said.
A Council spokesperson said more permanent long term road rehabilitation of Waratah St, while originally to be considered for inclusion in Council’s 23/24 road renewal program, has been delayed.
“(This is) due to Council’s process of prioritising long term road rehabilitation based on site inspections and pavement modelling recommendations across the Central Coast,” the spokesperson said.
“Each year, a program of works is developed and refined based on available budget.
“Significant construction cost increases occurred in 2022/23 which meant some projects like Waratah St were then moved and listed for the following financial year.
“The Waratah St renewal is tentatively scheduled for 24/25, however should cost savings be achieved in 23/24, consideration will be given to bringing forward the Waratah St renewal project.”
Terry Collins