The ACT Government is failing to maintain suburbs properly, Liberals leader Elizabeth Lee claims.
She said that more than 500 Canberrans from every suburb in her Kurrajong electorate (Inner North and Inner South) responded to her survey (example here), complaining about broken footpaths and roads, dangerous intersections, rising rates of crime, poor lighting, and a lack of parking.
“This is yet another example of this government unable or unwilling to get the basics right,” Ms Lee said. “There is an astounding lack of respect from this Labor-Greens Government for Canberrans who work hard to pay their rates, fees, and charges, only to have their suburbs neglected.”
Ms Lee said she had written about basic city services to Chris Steel, Minister for Transport and City Services, more than 140 times since the last election.
An ACT Government spokesperson told Canberra Daily that almost 47,250 issues were reported to Fix My Street in 2020–21 across the ACT; the top five issues were street lights, illegal parking, potholes, requests for mowing / maintenance, and pruning trees and shrubs.
Requests were triaged with public safety as the highest priority (for example, reports of sharps, line of sight issues on roadsides, fallen trees, traffic signal faults, road safety, and path trip hazards). Where issues were not urgent, they might be placed on a program of works to address them efficiently (for example, path replacement or asphalt works). Low priority works might be re-evaluated as higher priorities arose (resources directed for the general pruning of trees may be reallocated to tree damage caused by storms).
“Requests vary significantly in their complexity, and some requests (such as for upgrades to the public realm) may require a long lead time to be addressed and in some cases require capital funding,” the spokesperson stated.
Findings from Elizabeth Lee’s survey
Footpaths and roads were the chief concern, from 87% of respondents, Ms Lee said; every suburb had damaged or missing footpaths – a trip hazard for the elderly, people with disability, and young parents – and potholes in roads.
An ACT Government spokesperson said that Fix My Street had received almost 3,300 enquiries about potholes in the 2020–21 financial year. The government repaired 6,375 potholes that financial year, compared to 2,720 in 2019–20; the increase was due to roads cracking in wet weather, following the drought. In June this year, the ACT Government repaired more than 500 potholes.
The ACT Government actively inspects key arterial roads, and answers community requests to fix dangerous potholes. The government spent $6 million more on pothole repairs and other reactive requests like grass growing in the 2020–21 financial year.
Dangerous intersections (72%)
- Windeyer St / Phillip Ave, Watson
- Anzac Park East, Campbell
- Wentworth Avenue / Dawes Street, Kingston
- Barrallier / Lefroy Streets, Griffith
- Tasmania Circle, Forrest
- Wattle St / Macarthur St / Scrivener St, O’Connor
- Mackenzie / Russell Streets
- Carnegie Street / La Perouse
- Wentworth Ave / Sturt Ave / Canberra Ave
Lack of parking (54%)
- Campbell shops
- Watson shops
- Downer shops
- Griffith shops
- O’Connor shops
Poor lighting (43%)
- Telopea Park
- Key Street, Campbell
- Currong Street South, Reid
- Torrens Street, Braddon
- Stuart Street, Griffith
- Condamine Street, Turner
- State Circle, Forrest
- North Lyneham Shops
“I’m concerned about street lighting,” one Turner resident wrote. “It’s poorly lit and unsafe. Not just because I can’t go out when it’s dark and feel safe, but driving is also not safe. I feel I have to put my high [beams] on to see in an urban area. I’ve lived in every capital city except Hobart, and the street lighting in Turner and Canberra is general is the worst I’ve seen. There is one street light in my street.”
Rising rates of crime (24%)
- Turner
- North Lyneham
- O’Connor
- Braddon
“Lack of policing is a problem,” said one respondent. “We had a break-in in the garages of our four-block basement parking space. They damaged about 10 cars and broke into about 10 storage cages. We have many cameras and photos were taken and given to the police. The police replied that they don’t enough capacity to follow this up unless we have very clear identifiable photos, etc. It looks like similar crimes have been committed in nearby blocks and Kingston Foreshore; nothing further will happen about apprehending the criminals. We are now going to great expense to have additional security installed.”
Ms Lee said the government needed to get the basics right. “These issues might not be deemed ‘sexy’, but we cannot simply forget about the footpaths, streetlights, and maintenance of local shops, roads, and green spaces. These are the things that affect all Canberrans.”
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