Not happy with roads and public transport, Narooma residents urge state MP to deliver ministerial message

State Member for Bega Dr Michael Holland will be having a long conversation with NSW Regional Transport and Roads Minister Jenny Aitchison on behalf of Narooma residents.

The lack of public transport, the state of the Princes Highway, and dangerous spots on Narooma’s roads are hot topics.

Batemans Marine Park also came up, as did the underused Scout Hall, when Dr Holland took his mobile office to Narooma on Thursday (12 December).

An elderly man asked Dr Holland whether there was a concierge service to help him move from Narooma to near a railway line because he was worried about how he would get around when he could no longer drive.

Members of the CWA Tilba branch have already spoken with Ms Aitchison about the need for a bus service, particularly given the Far South Coast’s older-than-average population.

An elderly woman said the existing bus services were not flexible and would not stop to pick her up or drop her off. She regularly needs to travel to the hospital in Bega for treatment. The Premier bus service from Sydney arrives in Bega around 6 pm and leaves before 7 am the next day.

“You aren’t going to get a medical appointment between those hours, so you have to stay two nights,” she told Dr Holland.

She said her electricity bill had doubled over the past year. That was partly because the holiday park where she lived had introduced a daily 15-cent electricity connection fee.

Another woman was without a car after a recent accident and had no way to get her husband to medical appointments in Moruya, Batemans Bay and Canberra. She said the loss of the NSW regional seniors’ travel card had made towns like Narooma even more disadvantaged compared with cities.

Several people agreed that Riverside Drive was an accident waiting to happen. They said people ignored the speed and weight limits. The narrow steep exit road of Davison Street was too dangerous for caravans and trucks, yet Google Maps directed people to take that detour off the Princes Highway.

One woman feared the situation would worsen when a set of traffic lights was installed on the corner of the highway and Field Street.

Another resident said the recent work on Narooma Bridge had made it “so dangerous”.

“The new concrete buttress has been hit many times,” he said. “You have to give way to anything big coming” because the northern end of the bridge is now at a much sharper angle than before.

Another man told Dr Holland that the two best overtaking lanes between Narooma and Moruya were out of action due to roadworks and the construction of the new Eurobodalla hospital, while the number of caravans and semi-trailers on the road had increased.

“After 40 years of roadworks, the roads are getting worse, not better.”

He said there were blind spots on both sides of the road when coming out of Payne Street.

“You have to make a very quick judgment to pull out or not,” he said.

A fisher said he had spoken to NSW Maritime about the need to dredge the channels but was told no money was available.

“Narooma was built on fishing but now it is that hard to fish because all the channels have silted up,” the angler said.

A woman had almost the opposite concern. She spoke to Dr Holland about the need to overturn the “fishing amnesty” that was introduced in some Batemans Marine Park sanctuary zones in 2019.

“This could be such a blue economy and the health of the fish stock would be improved,” she said.

She said the marine park “is seen as a resource, not for its environmental value” because it came under the Department of Agriculture rather than the Department of Environment.

Other people expressed their concern at the proposed over-50s development on the Old Highway, on the southern edge of Narooma.

Another issue raised was returning the Narooma Scouts Hall to community use after 14 years of underuse. A man said it was being maintained by the nearby Narooma Men’s Shed but a highly bureaucratic process prevented local community groups from using it.

“It is a wonderful asset that the community built for the scouts and it should be available to the community,” he said.