Campbelltown councillor Masood Chowdhury says people are literally knocking on his door and asking why there doesn’t seem to be too much maintenance being done.
“They are complaining to me, saying why is there no mowing, no maintenance in our public areas, along our roads and streets,’’ says the Labor councillor.
Last week, Cr Chowdhury took the South West Voice to the set of lights at the Sackville Street and Cumberland Road intersection in Ingleburn, where he shows me weeds that have grown out of the concrete in the media strip.
“These, as you can see, haven’t grown overnight, they have been there for maybe up to six months,’’ says Cr Chowdhury.
“This kind of eyesore is all over Campbelltown, if you go everywhere you will see that maintenance has not been done there for a while.
“I think one of the problems is that there is a seven week rotation system for maintenance at council, and maybe it’s time to reduce that to four weeks,’’ he says.
Cr Chowdhury has been backed on his call by the Labor leader on council, Cr Darcy Lound, also pictured on the unsightly Ingleburn median strip, above.
“My big concern for the ratepayers is that our great outdoor staff aren’t getting the hours they need to do the job of staying on top of maintenance across Campbelltown,’’ says Cr Lound.
“We are just concerned about how the place looks, and right now it’s not good.
“But we do acknowledge we’re coming off a couple of bad years with Covid and the wet weather.
“The plants growing on these traffic islands here can be whipper snipped in a few minutes, but I don’t think the outdoor staff are getting the hours they need to be able to do the job,’’ Cr Lound said.
This was the council response, provided by the acting general manager Phu Nguyen:
“While the regular maintenance program was impacted by the recent unseasonal weather conditions, our operations team have been working hard to restore regular service levels at our parks and reserves.
“Furthermore, an additional $2.4 million city amenity and appeal program was approved by the Council in June 2022 which will see improvements to our public spaces that will elevate the visual appeal of our city.”
Cr Chowdhury said he will lodge a notice of motion at the next council meeting, asking council to act on this important issue.
“I will ask for a report on how a four week rotation system would be more effective than seven weeks, and the cost and so on,’’ he said.
Cr Chowdhury said that when he gets visitors to his home in Minto these days they comment on the untidy look of Campbelltown.
“They say, what happened to your city, where I live is a beautiful place, whether it’s Blacktown, Camden, Liverpool or others, you don’t see that long grass on the side of the road,’’ he said.
I have lived in Campbelltown for 32 years and I have never seen it looking so untidy. Over maybe the last 5 years the maintenance has definitely declined, terribly. As you drive around you see weeds growing everywhere, parks and footpaths that are over grown and look like they haven’t seen a mower in 12 months. Being a rate payer I hope that someone identifies that Campbelltown is a mess and needs some urgent work to bring back to where it once was a few years ago.
Poor excuse of unseasonal weather conditions, please stop the excuses Campbelltown Council.
Our entire LGA looks shameful and continues to be neglected and severely unkept.
As a 30 year rate payer and an owner/operator of a small local horticultural business these excuses need to stop.
We self employed can easily reschedule and continue our business through recent weather conditions, but Council continue with long winded excuses.
Its totally now out of control and borders on severe neglect – and the so called decision making Managers, Directors and General Manager need to lift their game and show some pride and responsibility for the roles they play in maintaining our LGA.
Thankyou to our Labour Councilors Mahsood and Darcy for finally taking this public and lodging a notice of motion.
Hopefully this can now expedite and elevate the needs of the community to those Council employed excuse makers.
I have lived in Ruse since 1976 and my house backs onto Smiths Creek Reserve.
The reserve was mowed on a regular basis – not now.
It took me over 2 hours to cut the grass with a whipper snipper and mower.
Complained and now you can actually walk out back. Let’s hope it continues to be maintained.
Council rates are going up and what do we get for our money – not much.