Upper Hunter farmers fuming over Merriwa aka 'Coulsons Creek' Road closure

What started with a price tag of just under $10 million, is now set to cost upwards of $60 million and take five years to finish.

The bungled upgrade and subsequent closure of the Merriwa to Willow Tree Road, also known as Coulson's Creek Road, has created an extensive detour for those travelling from one side of the Upper Hunter to the other, and added hours to the round trip to Tamworth via Scone.

The promised road, described as a "critical livestock freight route", was to be upgraded into a major transport route carrying large trucks and B-Double vehicles.

However, the Upper Hunter Shire Council, which undertook the construction itself despite objections, failed to build it properly. It tried to keep the details a secret, refusing to publicly release a geotechnical report and spending almost $10,000 fighting a freedom of legislation application from one of its own councillors.

The report, a copy of which has been obtained by the Newcastle Herald, says "significant deviations from the design were constructed", including alignment of the road, pushing the centreline of the road downslope.

The fill used was material from the upslope cut, which was poorly compacted, with "no specific foundation preparation". While a water cart was present "at times", the majority of the fill was put in place without moisture conditioning.

Rain damage, which started as a series of dangerous tension cracks, turned into a major landslide not long after the project was finished, and a 5 tonne load limit was imposed in March 2020. Less than a year later, in January 2021, it was deemed unsafe to carry any traffic. It has since all but washed away in large sections.

Three years since the road started to collapse, the Office of Local Government's investigation is "ongoing".

The closure has forced primary producers and other business owners to travel hundreds of kilometres out of their way to get stock to sale yards and conduct other business in places such as Tamworth, costing them hundreds of dollars a trip.

The state and federal governments have committed a combined $48.3 million more to what the council describes as "rectification works".

In November last year, mayor Maurice Collison said he was pleased the council "can now get on with the job" of having the road repaired. More than seven months later, there has been no apparent progress, residents say.

The council has awarded a tender, but the funding is further delayed due to a 90-day state government independent review process. A similar process at the federal level was announced on May 9.

In response to a request for an update, a statement from the federal infrastructure minister, Catherine King, said they were not "commenting on what is or isn't in the review".

The Nationals' Upper Hunter State MP David Layzell said there was a risk that if a deed of funding wasn't signed soon, it could end up costing more.

"We could be up for an extra million dollars if it doesn't get signed in the next couple of months," Mr Layzell said.

"Every month it will cost more. It's already a $48 million project, we don't need the extra expense, and we know building costs are going through the roof."

If construction had begun in July as planned, the road was scheduled to be re-opened in December, 2024.

Put the ink on the cheque, says Merriwa-based primary producer, Chris Kemp.

"We've been waiting three years for this," Mr Kemp said.

The council assured residents the detour would add just 30 minutes to the trip, he said.

"It's an extra hour, hour and half in a truck both ways, so an extra three hours each trip.

"It's costing everybody. There's one bloke who does a few rounds every week. Anything you want to get from Tamworth takes a full day just travelling. It's a big trip, when it's not a big trip. It's 150km and it takes half a day to get there.

"We've also got property at Willow Tree. It's just a nightmare. That is 67 kilometres from when you head out of Willow Tree to Merriwa, but it's 150 something going around through Scone."

There are lots of families like that of Mr Kemp paying a high price to travel longer distances to get livestock to sale yards and the abattoir at Tamworth.

At one farm, the fallout includes the forced relocation of one family member, and a longer daily commute to work at Merriwa for another.

Another resident who said she was acting as a sort of spokesperson, but who did not want to be named, said people had gone out of business in Merriwa, and other businesses were suffering.

"The council said when the road fell in that it would only add 30 minutes to the trip. Well, I can guarantee it doesn't. We have been doing it every month for the last five years - it makes a whole day's work out of it.

"People have to travel now to get to bigger places for their repairs and maintenance, so they are not shopping in town any more, which is disappointing for people running a business in Merriwa.

"The impacts of this have been huge. The council should have gone into administration over it. How a council could even consider they had the expertise to do it (the upgrade) I'll never know."

Due to the closure, local roads were now in "a disgusting state", she said.

"The council says it has no money."

Mr Kemp agreed, saying the road to Scone had "deteriorated massively" and was becoming a danger.

It came at a fragile time for primary producers with dry weather having an impact on livestock markets that had crashed, he said. Some prices had halved compared with a year ago, while the "fat stock" had gone from $9 a kilo for lamb down to $5.60.

"There haven't been many roads in the state that have been closed this long. I can't get my head around how the shire, they're not responsible for anything, and their finances seem to be falling apart."

The council's finances are a concern, Cr Collison says. Financial reports reveal the council's capacity to contain its spending, relative to its operating revenue, known as its operating performance ratio, has gone downhill substantially in the past four years. That measure, which has a best practice benchmark of zero, is now five times worse, dropping from -4.04 in 2019, to -20.21 in 2022.

Councillor Elizabeth Flaherty says she has asked for the projections for 2023 and 2024, as part of the draft delivery and operational plan review, but has not received a response. She is concerned the council has lost its way financially, investing millions into "assets with negligible return", adding up to losses equivalent to a 30 per cent rate rise.

"An investment of $15 million in the airport project and $9 million in the saleyards has contributed to the fall in operating performance ratio in each year since 2019, exacerbated by additional costs associated with all major projects, including the Merriwa-Willow Tree Road," she said.

"The rate base of the council is only $11 million."

The mayor, Cr Collison, declined to be interviewed but agreed the council had seen a "declining trend" in its operating performance ratio since 2019. However, he said in a written statement that a number of external facts had contributed to that.

"Council is monitoring the level of increasing costs due to the high inflationary effects currently being experienced on construction and other costs over the last 2 to 3 years. Council has, and will continue to review areas where expenditure where cost savings can be achieved without affecting services that are provided to the community."

Meanwhile, an inspection at the bottom of the collapsed Merriwa to Willow Tree roadside reveals it has now reached the gully, which the council has reported to the Environmental Protection Agency, and continues to pose "a substantial risk".

"We understand the inconvenience the road closure has caused since it was closed to all traffic in January 2021," a spokesman for the Upper Hunter Shire Council said in a statement to the Herald.

"We recognise the challenges faced by those affected, particularly farmers, due to the road closure. While council has not provided direct compensation, we have identified suitable alternate routes. We are committed to expediting the reconstruction process and reopening the road as soon as possible, thereby minimising the impact on the affected community and their businesses."