Congo Road north has been closed since November 2021. Photo: Supplied.
Concerned residents recently addressed Eurobodalla Shire Council’s public access session about the Congo Road north closure, particularly as bushfire season nears.
Currently Congo residents only have one road in and out.
Bingie Residents Association president Gillianne Tedder said the Congo Bingie area is heavily forested and therefore bushfire prone. As summer approaches the importance of reinstating access along Congo Road north becomes urgent.
“This is not an academic exercise for us. It’s potentially a matter of life or death,” Ms Tedder said at the meeting.
“There were two routes in and out of our area and now there’s only one,” she said. “It’s directly opposite the recommendations made by the bushfire royal commission after the Black Summer bushfires.”
Kathryn Maxwell, president of the Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance (SHASA), said the Congo Road closure “goes to the very heart of council’s legislative responsibilities and moral obligations to the Eurobodalla community”.
She said council’s Local Emergency Management Committee was responsible for preparing the Local Emergency Management Plan, as well as planning for the prevention of, preparation for, response to, and recovery from emergencies, including bushfires.
“The current closure of north Congo Road constitutes a serious and readily identifiable risk which impacts transport and access options and magnifies bushfire hazard by limiting response actions,” Ms Maxwell said.
Additionally, the Congo locality has no recognised safe space and there is no local RFS brigade. The sole access road goes through densely forested land while the lowest risk escape route from Congo is northwards via the beach. That is not an option for elderly and less mobile residents and visitors.
Ms Maxwell said plans to open Congo Road during emergencies by unlocking gates were inadequate. “It is unrealistic and dangerous to expect prompt reopening of the northern section of the road during emergency conditions that are likely to be accompanied by significant telecommunications failure and other disruptions as was experienced during the Black Summer bushfires.”
Ms Tedder said keys for the gate did not overcome the concrete blocks blocking the road and a “set of keys” solution was unacceptable in the case of a fire, drowning or medical emergency when time was critical.
She said Bingie RFS had estimated there could be around 1500 vehicles or more trying to evacuate.
Speakers discussed the process that previous councils had followed in 1999 to acquire three land parcels.
Congo resident Catherine Taylor said she had asked council staff if they were following the same process with all three landowners to formalise Congo Road and if they would always have the same access they currently had.
“Those answers informed our decision,” she said. “There was inequity in the whole process.”
Eurobodalla Shire councillors with former general manager Warwick Winn. Photo: Eurobodalla Shire Council.
Co-convenor of community forum A Better Eurobodalla Bernie O’Neil said it was encouraging to hear that council was negotiating with the landowner on a possible land swap to allow a northern road access to Congo village.
If the land swap did not proceed Ms O’Neil said council had only acted on its 1999 resolution to compulsorily acquire land from two landowners, not all three.
She asked why council had not considered compulsory acquisition of the remaining piece of land in the first place.
Congo Community Association’s (CCA) public officer Johanna Weaver said the group welcomed the news of council’s negotiations with the landowner.
“This has always been our preferred option: direct negotiation with the landowner, so that we can find a solution that is amenable to all,” Ms Weaver said. “In our view, the simplest, most cost-effective option to reopen the road is for a direct land swap.”
Ms Weaver said CCA is not after a gold standard road and would be content with a five metre wide gravel track with a 60 km/h speed limit.
Given even a gravel track costs money, CCA met with Member for Bega Dr Michael Holland recently and is prepared to work with him and council to secure state funding if needed.
Ms Weaver said there had been two roads in and out since at least the 1850s and people had a legal right to access the public road in Congo.
She said Eurobodalla’s existing one road in and out communities received “special fire protection” but Congo did not because the current bushfire management plans described it as having two roads in and out.
