Wyuna’s fire brigade captain and three of his volunteers are being forced to dodge potholes on Goddard Rd when the emergency call is put out for their assistance.
They all live on the road that is at the centre of a repair debate involving the Department of Education, Kyabram P-12 College, St Augustine’s College, Walters Passenger Services, Campaspe Shire and parents of children who have had to change their routines in order to catch the bus to school.
Rarely will you hear a peep out of the likes of Paul Mennen and his Wyuna mates who live on Goddard Rd at Wyuna — all members of the fire brigade.
He, and his neighbours, go about their business quietly and without much fuss.
If there is a problem they find a solution.
If they can’t do it themselves they ask for help from someone they know, so rarely is there the need to reach out to the local member for support.
The tipping point came last week, however, when four members of the volunteer Wyuna Fire Brigade took some time out of their busy days to meet with State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh.
CAMPASPE SHIRE COMMENT
This comment was provided to the Kyabram Free Press from the Campaspe Shire’s communications department:
“As with many rural roads, Goddard Rd was affected by the October 2022 flood event and the temporary suspension of the Road Management Plan. The pending repair is scheduled to take place from Tuesday next week (yesterday, June 20), weather permitting, works are expected to take approximately three days.
“Council acknowledges that the bus company and residents had made service requests to the maintenance of the road. Council was not consulted or advised of the decision that bus services would be suspended.
“The Wilson Rd pothole has been noted and will be inspected.”
They are incensed by the lack of a response from the Campaspe Shire, their properties teetering just inside the north-eastern boundary of the shire — and the customer service response time seems to align with their distance from the shire headquarters at Echuca.
Weller Rd, two roads to the east of Goddard Rd, is the eastern boundary of the shire and links it to the Moira Shire.
Consistent approaches by the group, for more than a year, regarding the condition of the road have met with a variety of excuses — ranging from “you are on the list” to “we are very busy” and, according to the group, no action has been taken.
Now the Department of Education has stepped in to “ban” the bus service from using Goddard Rd the group is expecting some movement.
Just in case they have enlisted Mr Walsh’s support and he was busily taking notes, while avoiding muddy potholes in his well-polished footwear.
The frustration of the group came from the fact they were only informed of the decision to stop the service just before the end of the school day on June 13.
In one instance a parent had a phone call from another parent asking what they wanted them to do with their son.
They had not spoken with the school, for one reason or another, meaning that call was the first they heard that the bus would not be stopping at its usual point.
“It has been big mess,” Mr Mennen said.
“They told us on the day that this happened that the buses would be dropping the kids at either end of Goddard Rd or at the corner of Sinclair and John Allen Rd.
“Those were our options.”
The decision has meant a change to the regular timetable for the parents, and children, who also have to use the road for their everyday to-and-from home travels.
“Walters (Passenger Service) has been asking could for it to be graded for a long time. The council knew about this well before we got to this point,” Mr Mennan said.
There are almost a dozen stops on Goddard Rd that have been affected by the road’s “dangerous” condition.
“Before councils amalgamated this road would be graded road four times a year,” Mr Mennen said, after speaking with one of the long-time residents of Wyuna.
The severe problems between McBain and McNee Rds have not seen a grader for more than 12 months.
“There should be a road maintenance plan that at least has an inspection of the roads every six months,” he said.
“If they don’t need to be graded that is fine, but if they do then it shoud happen.
“I do the slashing on the side of the road myself, just to keep it clear.”
He said any dirt road could be kept in a satsifactory condition if it was graded on a six-monthly basis.
Ironically, a day after the decision to stop the bus service on Goddard Rd had been made official, there was a shire inspection of Goddard Rd.
“It has been this bad for about six months. This stretch of road has a lot of CFA members living on it and the CFA shed is at the end of Goddard Rd,” Mr Mennen said.
“When there is a call out we need to get there reasonably quickly. The road certainly doesn’t allow for that.”