North Ward News Good news! It is with excitement that the NSW Government has announcement that it will accept the management of the Lower Portland Ferry, with the transfer anticipated to occur later this year.
The announcement follows years of advocacy work by both The Hills and Hawkesbury councils and the Member for Hawkesbury, Robyn Preston MP, who called for the ferry to be managed by the State Government like the other ferries on the Hawkesbury River. The residents are happy, and we will no longer need to have this issue raise its head every four years!
Over the last month, I have been contacted by many of our residents and motorists using Wisemans Ferry Rd. It has been reported that there are overhanging branches and vegetation causing trucks to damage or tearing of their exhausts when hit.
Large deposits of sand have filled the table drains where trees are now sprouting from resulting in water sitting on the road surface during inclement weather. Whilst it is welcome to see the road surface be re sheeted of late, a number of areas remain. The speed and dangerous driving behaviours of some of the trucks in the area is also causing great concern.
Flood warning information and road closure details of Cattai and Little Cattai Creeks in Wisemans Ferry Rd during times of flood, have also been raised. I am working through these issues with local residents, truck drivers, and as Wisemans Ferry Rd is a State road – Transport for NSW. It is anticipated that a community meeting will be held to address a number of these issues in the coming month or so. I will communicate the date when I have this arranged.
There are five locations on Council’s rural road network where the potential risk to motorists from inundated roads is greatest. Flood gates have been installed in all but one of those locations to assist with the physical closure of the road. In addition, signage has been installed on the approaches to each location to provide advanced warning of the hazard.
However, in each of those locations the current position of the flood gates and/or advanced warning signage can result in them being inundated by floodwaters thereby reducing their effectiveness and increasing the risk to motorists. Council recently approved to relocate the existing flood gates or install new flood gates to assist in the physical closure of the road at each location. These gates will be
