The community group say they have had a lot of problems with roads in the area for some years with culverts blocking up and roads flooding, causing a lot of damage. Locals have, on occasion, cleaned the culverts out. 

“On Bril Bril Road, the water during the March floods flowed down the road where the council had put their recycled road surface on, so the floods washed all that away, even though they only had 11 inches of rain,” said a community spokesman.

Locals say the road grit and the vegetation clogged up the culvert and caused a massive amount of damage to Rollands Plains roads because of a lack of maintenance.

“There has not been any cutting back of the Bril Bril Road, so there are branches, leaves and small trees in the gutters.  The water doesn't drain away.  It simply runs down the road. On Molly Milligan Road, the water was up over the culverts and people could not get to work,” he added.

The Rollands Plains community acknowledge that Port Macquarie-Hastings Council have done some good works down the road and tarred a short section.  But, they say, the main problem is that they're not cleaning the drainage on the side of the road, and there is too much vegetation growing.

The gravel washes out of the gutter, cars drive over it and cause potholes and ruin the road surface.

Members of the Rollands Plains community attended the March council meeting in Wauchope and brought forward the issue of the trees and vegetation that have been let grow to the verge and edge of Bril Bril Road, making it extremely dangerous.  They said the council were quite concerned and asked us a lot of questions afterwards.

“Trees have been left to grow.  We told them that is the first step of any upgrade,” added the spokesman.

Council staff and councillors and the mayor have held a lot of meetings with the community at Rollands Plains.  The council is working on a rural roads strategy for the whole local government area to address community concerns and show people what the council can and cannot do.  In the meantime, the council encourages everyone to put submissions into the 2018-19 operational plan by Sunday April 22.