By Eleanor Wilson
Cardinia Shire Council has officially announced the discontinuation of nine special charge scheme projects within the Sealing the Hills program, due to Federal Government funding reductions.
Sealing the Hills was originally earmarked for a $150 million investment by the Federal Government to prioritise sealing 164 roads in Gembrook, Emerald, Cockatoo and surrounds.
But in January it was revealed that funding had been slashed to $41 million.
At a council meeting on Monday 18 September, councillors declared that nine declared special charge catchments, which had commenced community consultation but were yet to receive a cost commitment, would not go ahead.
This included 51 roads across Cockatoo, Emerald, Gembrook, Upper Beaconsfield and Guys Hill.
Councillor Jeff Springfield expressed his disappointment with the decision, but said large projects like Sealing the Hills needed support from multiple levels of government to be delivered.
“It’s unfortunate because it was really going to make a world of difference to see a lot of these packages done,” Cr Springfield said.
Under the special charge scheme, Australian Government funding would subsidise about 85 per cent of the works, with council and property owners contributing the rest.
Community consultation with affected landowners found a high percentage of residents were committed to footing the $7000 bill to afford them sealed roads, with the lowest acceptance rate sitting at 79 per cent.
Meanwhile, 100 per cent of landowners in Lenne Street, Haupt Place and Sutherland Road, Beaconsfield Upper said they would be willing to contribute to the special charge scheme.
Despite the high acceptance rate, councillors said the funding gap caused by the Federal Government’s withdrawal from the program could not be rectified.
“It’s really sad we have to discontinue them, but nevertheless you can only do what you can afford and without the other levels of government supporting us on these really big projects, they just can’t go ahead,” Cr Collin Ross said.
While the program experienced a significant funding cut, council secured $41 million in funding to seal 37 roads across four townships, which will be delivered over the next two years.
Cr Springfield said the council would continue to advocate for funding in the space.
“I’m hopeful, I know that our council officers are going to be driving this hard, we have ever since this announcement was made, trying to see alternative avenues for funding to deliver sealed roads within our unsealed road network,” he said.
“The amount of benefit that would be delivered for the community up there that live on these roads is monumental.”
