Kingsview Hill residents petition for maintenance work

Residents of Kingsview Hill have petitioned Central Coast Council to implement an on-going maintenance program to reduce fire danger in the enclave and to ensure its only access road, Kingsview Dr, remains trafficable in the event of fire.

Mr Peter Springett from the Kingsview Hill Community Group said there were 220 properties in the estate, comprising Kingsview Dr, The Palisade, The Citadel, The Close and The Sanctuary, surrounded by bushland in council reserves and National Park.

He said the residents had petitioned Central Coast Council with 460 signatures requesting Council to correct the dangerous state of Kingsview Dr.

"We are in the middle of a disaster just waiting to happen.

"In the event of a bushfire evacuation emergency, there is only one road in and out, Kingsview Dr, which is bounded on both sides by bushland.

"If either side of the road caught fire, it is unlikely that our residents would be able to get off the Hill," Mr Springett said.

He said that to make matters worse there was significant buildup of dead trees, mainly casuarinas, branches, leaf litter and pine needles on the verge and a metre into the road.

"There are no paths either side of Kingsview Dr and school children and others are walking up down the very steep hill, because there are no buses, and have to walk well into the road to avoid the debris in the gutter.

"This is a very dangerous situation, especially with vehicles coming around the blind corner."

He said that in early January, a five-man council team came up with a bulldozer, a street sweeper and a truck to clear away some of the branches and pulled all the debris out of the gutters - "but there are still loads of dead branches and trees along the side of the road".

"We feel this was only a partial short-term solution and doesn't address the other significant safety issues."

Mr Springett said the residents had offered to provide a residents' working bee with assistance from Council, if Council did not have the manpower to conduct the requested work.

Ideally they wanted Council to implement the necessary ongoing maintenance work to control and reduce all the bushfire fuel which seemed to have a stopped at least four years or more ago.

Central Coast ward representative, Cr Chris Holstein, said he was working with the group to identify the issues, evaluate the situation and put the residents' concerns forward to Council staff.

"Some of these things are minor maintenance issues that can be fixed, and some are not for council to fix.

"Some matters have to be referred to other relevant authorities," he said.

"We have to go through the due process in order to have the matters resolved and it has been referred to Council staff."

SOURCE

Interviews (Sue Murray), 29 Jan 2020

Peter Springett, Kingsview Hill Community Group

Chris Holstein, Central Coast Council