Bega Valley Shire mayor calls on NSW Government to stop paying lip service to Brown Mountain issues

Notorious for landslips, roadworks and difficulties during bad weather Bega Valley Shire mayor Russell Fitizpatrick said it was time to do something other than another study.

He said despite a number of studies "nothing has been achieved to date".

"Numerous plans and strategies have identified the need for significant improvements to the Brown Mountain, however it is apparent there has been no real translation from identifying a problem into investigating solutions," Cr Fitzpatrick said.

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"It is clear that the first logical step would be to undertake a route vulnerability and opportunities assessment. This would identify potential alternate alignments and constraints that need to be overcome."

Cr Fitzpatrick said while state and federal governments had invested heavily in improving parts of the NSW highway network, there had been a clear neglect in the southeast of NSW.

"Not only has there been no real investment in significantly improving the network, there has been a decline in the quality, safety and accessibility of the network, in particular the Snowy Mountains Highway traversing the Brown Mountain," he said.

Cr Fitzpatrick said residents to the east of the Great Dividing Range relied heavily on access over Brown Mountain for goods and essential services including specialist health care and education, while residents to the west of the Great Dividing Range used it to access leisure and recreation facilities in the east.

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It is the only route for the transport of goods.

"Rather than continue on the endless cycle of developing a new strategy which is essentially more lip service that identifies the need to investigate improvements to the Snowy Mountains Highway over the Brown Mountain, it is time to act now," Cr Fitzpatrick said.

There is a stronger than ever desire from the community to see action on Brown Mountain with sections of the road down to single lane traffic for an extended period.

As part of the mayoral minute, which was unanimously approved by all councillors present, council has asked Transport for NSW to provide a schedule of remediation works and also to confirm to the community that during remediation there will be no closure of Brown Mountain.

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