Kingborough is one of Tasmania’s fastest growing municipalities. Roads, community facilities, and open spaces must keep pace with population growth. Council must plan ahead, not react after the fact.
Infrastructure investment will naturally be weighted toward urban areas where the majority of the population lives. That is responsible financial planning. But population size does not excuse neglect. Every part of Kingborough, from Kingston to Snug, Margate, Woodbridge, and Bruny Island, deserves infrastructure maintained to a safe and functional standard appropriate to its community’s needs. Elderly residents, mobility impaired residents, and vulnerable communities in regional areas should not be left with unsafe footpaths, deteriorating roads, or unmet basic infrastructure needs simply because they live outside the urban core. The principle is not equal spending. It is that no community should be left behind.
As Mayor I will:
- Develop a 10 year infrastructure plan aligned to population growth projections
- Prioritise road safety and traffic management in high growth areas
- Advocate strongly to state and federal government for Kingborough’s fair share of infrastructure funding
- Deliver community facilities that reflect current and future community need
- Introduce mandatory independent delivery oversight for all capital works projects above a defined threshold, with public reporting milestones
- Ensure council project management failures such as the Kingston bus interchange and Summerleas Road underpass are never repeated. Systemic issues identified in independent reviews must be acted upon
The register residents built
Residents supplied their own infrastructure list, unprompted, when I published this priority. It is the starting input to the 10 year plan consultation rather than a substitute for it, and every item will be assessed on merit, cost and safety. Publishing it here is the proof that community feedback leads somewhere.
- Seal Summerleas Road, and a footpath through to the fire station
- Seal Tyndall Road through to the dog beach
- Finish Bundalla Road
- Impara Drive at Oyster Cove, listed for bitumen in the 1980s and still a dirt track
- Potholes on Allens Rivulet Road
- A pedestrian crossing at Margate, and a safe crossing for Margate Primary
- The Sandfly Road turn onto the Channel Highway at peak hour
- Bus shelters on Redwood Road and through the Channel
- The Spring Farm to Kingston View Drive connector
- Overtaking lanes on the bypass
- Drainage on the Alonnah footpath
