Deputy mayor says the trucking industry needs to put in the effort to get access to council roads.
Trucking operators wanting greater access to local government roads have been told they need to put the hard work in to gain council support.
Goulburn Mulwaree Council deputy mayor Bob Kirk has referenced the efforts of trucking operators Richard Carter and Fred Troutman as an example of what needs to happen to improve road access for heavy vehicles.
Carter and Troutman lobbied Goulburn Mulwaree Council for more than two years and even called on the help of the Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) to argue the case for opening up more roads to B-doubles and increasing weight limits to resolve last mile access issues.
“Had these two gentlemen not taken that up we wouldn’t have addressed it. So I just say the challenge is for you guys if you’ve got the same problem you’ve got to probably put in some legwork as well,” Kirk says.
He adds that the trucking industry needs to spend time explaining its needs to councils because many government officials do not understand the issues confronting operators.
“If we don’t know what the problems are, what the issues are, then we won’t deal with them. So we need educating, too. As a result of Richard and Fred’s efforts we’ve got a little bit wiser on the issues that relate to this particular industry,” Kirk says.
“There’s many more issues out there that we don’t know about either, and until somebody champions these issues it’s very hard to have them addressed.”
Kirk made the comments at the recent Livestock and Bulk Carriers Association (LBCA) association, where he appeared alongside Troutman and Carter.
Carter says he and Troutman made a number of representations to the council on improving heavy vehicle access that were initially unsuccessful.
But the involvement of the RMS and the funding made available to the council to carry out necessary works to grant greater access helped to sway the shire’s elected officials.
Town & Country Magazine reported in January the council had endorsed new B-double routes, subject to infrastructure assessments being completed.
Photography: Greg Bush