Deteriorating Barry Road near Nundle set for facelift after residents express outrage on current state of route

Hanging Rock resident Luke Brand said locals feel "quite neglected" being on the outer periphery of the Tamworth Regional Council area.

"Ever since the amalgamations in 2004 it's been a gradual decline in the level of service in those outer regions," he said.

"We've watched the local works crew in Nundle basically fade a away to a basic skeleton crew."

On the flip side, council through their tourism initiatives are more than happy to encourage people to come to Sheba Dams and Hanging Rock, he said.

"Even during the snow period, which is the single worst time for a road to be degraded, they're actively encouraging people to come to the area and take advantage of it from a tourism perspective," he said.

"But at the same time, won't spend a cent to even keep up with the most basic road maintenance."

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The road currently has significant pavement damage, potholes and cracks which Tamworth Regional Council says are a result of "significant wet weather that has occurred during the first half of this year".

The weather has weakened the road pavement, as has the large volume of trucks that are currently hauling timber out of the state forest, council said.

In July, heavy rain and snow caused a 25 metre portion of Barry Road to sink into the ground, which has since been patched up.

Despite his concerns, Mr Brand was heartened by the prompt response from Tamworth councillors, namely Mark Rodda and Jim Maxwell, when he took the issue to council last week as a matter of urgency.

Since then, council's manager operations and construction Murray Russell has told the Leader a "significant works program" is expected on Barry Road in the "near future".

"It is anticipated that asphalt and pavement stabilisation will be used to make a more permanent repair to the problem areas," he said.

"Council are currently in discussions with contractors about the timing of those works. It is anticipated that permanent repairs are likely to commence within the next few weeks."

Mr Russell said Barry Road is being regularly inspected and repaired to ensure that it is safe for traffic, despite the surface damage.

"In the meantime, council would encourage motorists to take care and drive to the conditions," he added.

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