An urgent call for repairs to Brisbane’s footpaths has been rejected by a majority of the city’s councillors, despite the wait for some repairs being two years.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Opposition councillor Steve Griffiths (Moorooka) called on lord mayor Graham Quirk and the LNP councillors to support a motion for the list of footpaths awaiting repair and reconstruction to be publicly released and for the dangerous, damaged and unsafe paths to be reconstructed by December 31.
The call followed a 69-year-old resident falling on a footpath waiting repair on Durack Street in Morooka in September and breaking her wrist.
Independent councillor Nicole Johnston (Tennyson) said she also had residents in her ward fall on damaged footpaths and badly hurt themselves.
Cr Griffiths said he had been told completion of repairs on the city's damaged footpaths could take more than two years.
“I believe it’s appalling that we are waiting over two years to get to the damaged areas of our footpaths,” he said.
“Our residents out there should know that they are able to walk on safe footpaths, the best footpaths we can provide, to get to their shopping and transverse the city and we shouldn’t have to be waiting two years to get this sort of footpath repair done.”
Cr Johnston said Cr Quirk needed to put more money into fixing footpaths.
“It’s a minimal amount being spent on fixing footpaths around our city, the way people get around whether you’re able-bodied, you have a disability, you have a mobility aid, you’re in a wheelchair, you have a pram or a wheely walker is on our footpaths," she said.
“If they [footpaths] are in poor condition which they are right across this city and in my ward they are horrific, it is not good enough.”
In the 2018-19 budget, about $6.6 million was budgeted for scheduled footpath reconstruction, which included $549,000 for large failures and $102,000 for emergency works.
Each of the 26 councillors also received $541,000 as part of the ward footpath and parks trust fund, which was an increase from the $448,000 fund in 2017-18.
Cr Quirk said he would look at the budget, but that there was already a significant sum allocated.
“Each councillor, of course, has an allocation which I increased this year for footpaths in their local wards if they wish to spend that money on new footpaths,” he said.
All LNP councillors voted against Cr Griffith's motion for the footpaths to be repaired by December 31.
