Liverpool Plains Shire Council mayor Doug Hawkins hopes Labor continues road transfers

Sealed and gravel roads across the Liverpool Plains Shire took a beating from flood waters last year, and mayor Doug Hawkins said more workers and money are needed to get the job done.

"It's going to take a few years to get on top of it," he said.

Council crews and contractors have ramped up repair works across the shire with a long list of sites to seal, maintain and grade.

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Patch-up work is underway along Werris Creek Road, Coonabarabran Road and Gap Road.

A 600 metre stretch of Glenbrook Road has been upgraded from unsealed to sealed, and a second coat of seal is planned for Merriwa Road, Moreduval Lane, Gap Road and Coonabarabran Road.

Cr Hawkins said the council was entirely dependent on grant funding to carry out the works.

"Our rate base is just not big enough to cover that sort of money," he said.

It's expected the damage bill for road repairs will come in above the million dollar mark.

And with grants never fully final until the money's in the bank, one thing Cr Hawkins is certain about is the need to transfer road management to the state government.

The council submitted an application to the Coalition in March last year to hand 195 kilometres of local roads to the state government, as part of a 2019 election promise.

The Leader has previously reported council was given no indication about whether or not the application had been accepted, and regional roads minister at the time Sam Farraway was unable to confirm whether any stretch of road across NSW had been transferred.

But with council short on cash, Cr Hawkins said he hoped the program "goes ahead" under a new Labor government.

"I would hope that they would be open to that," he said.

The council had applied to transfer Werris Creek road, Wallabadah Road, Lindsays Gap Road, Merriwa Road, Waverly Road and Gap Road to the NSW government.

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