Dubbo Regional Council is pushing to get funding to prevent further erosion and subsequent loss of infrastructure along the Bell River and Macquarie River Junction in Wellington.
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At the recent meeting of council, the councillors voted to develop a report that would outline the cost of such a project, while also applying for grants to fix the issue.
Councillors and Landcare representatives met with property owners, Pam and Jim Whillock last week where they assessed the 15 metre cliff face.
The eroding bank is all that stands between the Bell and Macquarie rivers, just a treeline south of the low-level Duke of Wellington Bridge.
We need to work together to make sure we can fix this as a matter of urgency.
- Ben Shields
Mayor Ben Shields said the impact of the erosion is alarming to the point if unabated would threaten the town’s second most prominent bridge.
“The general public don’t have a clue on how substantially steep these cliff faces are and how the waterway is facing directly front-on to this bridge,” he said.
“It is only a matter of one or two flood events before this bridge is under threat of being washed away.
“It would be multiple of millions of dollars to replace should it be damaged by a break in the wall, so it is essential we take action straight away.”
However Cr Shields said even with the amalgamation with Dubbo the council in the Local Government Area (LGA) does not have the expertise to fix the problem.
“We will start that process of talking to experts in the field, right through to getting the process together to apply for State and Federal grants,” he said.
“This is far beyond anything a LGA can fix.
“By its very nature, because it affects so many LGAs down stream it is State and Federal responsibility. However, we have a caretaker role so that being the case we need to work together to make sure we can fix this as a matter of urgency.”
Cr Shields said council will prepare a costed proposal to undertake works that prevent erosion.
“This will allow council, in conjunction with the community, to seek grant funding to deliver works which prevent ongoing erosion that is threatening important infrastructure,” he said.
Council allocated a budget of $84,000 in the current financial year to undertake the necessary analysis and modelling for the project.
