Council should take action on flooding, says Chamber
The Peninsula Chamber of Commerce has called on the Central Coast Council to take immediate action to alleviate flooding across Peninsula streets following wild weather on the weekend of June 4 and 5.
Peninsula Chamber of Commerce president, Mr Matthew Wales, said it was unacceptable for Peninsula residents and businesses to put up with the ongoing flooding that plagues the area.
"It's not just during severe weather that the flooding happens," Mr Wales said.
"It now occurs whenever we get rain," he said.
"The Chamber is calling on the new Central Coast Council to conduct an urgent review of available funding to ensure that more money is directed to fixing the trunk drainage problems particularly in the West Umina and Everglades drainage catchments," Mr Wales said.
"I experienced first-hand the substandard conditions that residents had to put up with this weekend particularly in Lovell Rd, Shepherd St and from MacKenzie Ave to Dorothy Ave.
"It was absolutely appalling," he said.
As 80 per cent of Peninsula streets were documented as being unkerbed with limited drainage, Mr Wales said it was "about time that a serious effort was made to target state and federal funding to ensure that the fundamental drainage problems are fixed."
Mr Wales said he noted that while the Central Coast Council has a backlog of infrastructure works, Peninsula residents deserved "better than this.
"Public meetings help residents vent their frustration and working committees are fine, but what we really need is more money and a commitment from all levels of government to resolve the backlog of infrastructure projects," he said.
"There's an old saying floating around the Peninsula nowadays which goes 'we used to drive on the left hand side of the road, now we drive on what's left of the road'," Mr Wales said.
Media release, 5 June 2016
Matthew Wales, Peninsula Chamber of Commerce