Uralla Shire Council’s recent Youth Forum has reaped a major reward for the community of Rocky River.
Encouraged to speak up about issues relevant to them, the leaders of Rocky River Public School raised concerns about pedestrian safety and being able to get to and from school safely across the narrow Post Office Gully creek crossing.
Uralla Shire Council has taken serious note of these youth engagement activities to provide direction for future community needs. Council has actively worked to address this community infrastructure issue through their 2024-25 Budget and Operational Plan, which has recently been adopted at their June Council meeting.
“Council is aware that the current Post Office Gully ‘bridge’ is utilised by local pedestrians, including local school children, and it provides the sole accessible link between the northern and southern areas of the village,” said Uralla Shire Council Mayor, Robert Bell.
“There is currently no dedicated or safe pedestrian crossing over the bridge.”
“Council will undertake remediation of the existing culvert crossing at Rocky River and the co-installation of a safe pedestrian crossing of the creek at that same location.”
As part of Council’s Youth Forum in April this year, Mayor Bell, together with Councillors and council staff visited every school in the Uralla Shire, hosting open group discussions with students.
“In total we met with over 200 students from kindergarten through to year 12, asking young people about what’s important to them, hearing about their concerns and listening to their ideas for the future,” said Mayor Bell.
“For Council, it was a valuable and rewarding experience, hearing directly from young people about our community. The students were articulate, passionate and highly aware of their school and wider communities.”
“Overall, we were very impressed by students’ level of engagement, and grateful for their enthusiasm, their willingness to contribute ideas, and their honest opinion and feedback about what we could be doing to help make living in Uralla Shire even better.”
Students from Rocky River School raised very explicit concerns about pedestrian safety at this notorious bottleneck along the major transport route to Bundarra and Inverell. This crossing has been flagged by many residents as an accident waiting to happen, in need of upgrades due to the increasing heavy vehicle traffic traversing the creek.
“We mentioned installing a footbridge to make Post Office Gully a safer walking track to school with all the big trucks that come along this road,” said one student.
“I think the footbridge is a great idea for our students and the whole community because it makes it safer to get to school and home again, and for people who walk their dogs every day.”
‘We explained an idea about creating a footbridge at Post Office Gully, not just for people that walk or ride a bike to school but also for runners and dog walkers in the area,” said another student.
“A few kids live on the other side of the bridge and own bikes but can’t ride to school because the bridge is too unsafe due to trucks, cars and buses.”
The Post Office Gully upgrade has been made possible as part of a total capital expenditure programme of $12.3 million included in the 2024-25 Budget and Operational Plan.
“The current Council have maintained a balance between meeting community expectations and investing in our future, without additional increases in rates, fees and charges above CPI,” said Mayor Bell.
“I am pleased that following community input, hard work and difficult decisions at all levels of Council, we are now in a sound financial position. This underpins aspirations of our 10-year Community Strategic Plan, to remain an independent, well-governed and financially sustainable Shire.”
Top image: Uralla Shire Council Mayor Robert Bell with relieving Principal Dani Clyde-Smith and Rocky River School Yr 6 School Leaders at the Post Office Gully site. (Chris Clark: Supplied)
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