The burnout situation is very depressing!
The police can’t do anything unless they are informed a burnout is happening and they have patrol cars close by and they catch the offenders in the act, the Council say it’s not their responsibility because they don’t regulate this behaviour and they are not prepared to spend one cent on stopping them through intersection modifications or CCTV, and our local member is unable to do anything!
Last weekend’s burnout
There was another burnout last Saturday night – I don’t know at what time.
I got told about it at noon on Sunday by a neighbour and went and had a look. There was burnout debris such as rubber strips and rubber/wire pieces all over the road, and fresh burnt rubber tyre marks.
Luckily I had some thick gloves in my car so I spent 40 minutes picking up the debris and putting it in piles off the road so motorists didn’t get a flat tyre from driving over it. Whilst I was doing this a lady from Carrington stopped and told me she recently got a flat tyre which she thought was from burnout wire.
Rather than leaving the debris there on the side of the road I put it in a box and took it home – I feel like taking it to the Council head office at Taree and dumping it on the floor in the reception area as a present for the GM!
Council refuses to do anything to prevent the burnouts
On Friday 21 March I attended the Police Community Forum at Hawks Nest and before it started I discussed the burnouts with Council’s General Manager. I asked him when he was going to reply to my questions from a few weeks ago, and after a long discussion on the burnouts and their impacts and Council’s role, he acknowledged that Council wasn’t prepared to spend one cent to prevent the burnouts from happening, and that the only option for us now was to lodge a complaint to the Ombudsman or the Office of Local Government. He said the damaged intersection was safe and didn’t need to be fixed – it was just unsightly.
On Monday 24 I received the following email from General Manager:
“From Council’s perspective, I note my earlier advice, namely:
With respect to CCTV, Council has previously outlined its position, namely that the installation and responsibility for CCTV is not a matter for Council. That said, Council would be supportive of NSW Police if they opted to erected cameras at the location.
Illegal driving is not something Council regulates or has the resources to manage. Despite not being a function of Council, installing CCTV to monitor this type of behaviour is simply not financially viable given that the behaviour may move elsewhere leaving ratepayers potentially having to fund CCTV in other or future hotspots where illegal activity is being undertaken.
In relation to your questions, I make the following comments:
- Debris Cleanup – We will continue to monitor and respond to specific requests in relation to the clean-up of debris left on the roadway as part of our routine maintenance program.
- Road Surface Condition – Whilst the marks left on the pavement are unsightly, the surface of the road is generally in satisfactory condition. Therefore it is not currently on our forward works program for resealing.
I note from your feedback that there is no support for the low cost actions suggested by Council.
I reiterate that compliance action for the activity in this area remains with NSW Police. To this end, as indicated at the Police Forum on 21 March 2025, residents should report any illegal behaviour to the Police.”
This is a drone photo of the intersection - lots of burnt rubber everywhere and line markings obliterated. A great welcome for our visitors!
So Council is washing its hand of any responsibility for stopping the burnouts, despite Council owing the road, and its plans (community strategic plans) and its policies (roads administration policy) have objectives such as “To facilitate effective management of the local and regional road network for the safety and benefit of residents, businesses and visitors”. The words in these plans and policies are just hollow words, they mean nothing and the Council executive chooses to ignore them when it suits.
Council has the prime responsibility to make sure the road is safe for road users. It's not as though Council can’t afford it – it collects about $2m pa from rates in North Arm Cove, and this year is budgeting for an operating surplus of $40m, and a net budget result with a $13.5m surplus.
I'll bet that if similar burnouts were happening in Taree that Council would be taking prompt action to stop them.
A total Government failure
Unfortunately this situation is a total failure of local and state government.
Our community just has to suffer the burnouts, and put up with harassment, intimidation, flat tyres and an unsafe road because our authorities are unable to or are unwilling to do anything about it.
What about our Councillors - what is their role?
According to the 2024 NSW Councillor Handbook "Councillors can have a major and positive impact on the health and well-being of the whole community". They have a duty to make sure the Council is acting fairly in the interests of the local community.
I think we have a situation here where our community is suffering needlessly due to poor decisions of the Council Executive, and our elected representatives, the Councillors, the eleven people that we elected to look after our interests, should step up to the plate and require the Council Executive to take positive action to stop the burnouts.
