During its April meeting our council resolved to put the 2026/27 Operational and Delivery Plans out for public exhibition.
Members of the public are encouraged to have their say on the programs and projects council is proposing for the next 12 months and beyond. All very well you might say as inviting input by the public into the Integrated Planning and Reporting (IP&R) documents is required by legislation.
Residents are invited to respond to the documents through the “Your Say” platform or in writing to council. But does council take any notice of your submissions?
Is everything it proposes to do listed in the plans or are there a few things it omits to mention. I note many of the bridge reconstruction projects listed in the 2023-2026 have been completed.
Also the Bobeyan Road reconstruction and sealing has finally been finished albeit with only half the length completed for the cost of the full 20km project. I have noticed in recent weeks however, that a couple of projects, Smiths Lane kerb and gutter and reconstruction plus kerb and gutter works adjacent to the newish Cooma Regional Sports Hub, both in Cooma have commenced.
The Smiths Lane job should not be confused with the planned Smiths Road upgrade which is far removed from Cooma. Those works did not appear in the planned works in the 2023-2026 IP&R documents.
So I had a look at the documents for 2025-2026 and guess what, those projects were not included there either. I can understand how projects jump the queue following extreme weather or a sudden failure. Surely any variation in the IP&R documents would be reported to council for adoption and/or a variation to the adopted program.
I wonder how those projects managed to be included in the Infrastructure program when neither were listed for attention in any of the IP&R documents.
Where did the extra cash come from to finance the work? Like I say, I wonder how relevant the adopted plans are to the works council actually embarks upon.
Phil Daley
Berridale