By Dominique Tassell
Southern Downs Regional Council (SDRC) objected to the permanent closure of a road in Allan at the last Council meeting, stating they’d prefer a temporary closure.
The owners of the land adjoining a road reserve off Washpool Road in Allan asked to close part of the land for agricultural purposes.
Views on the proposed closure were sought from the Acting Director Infrastructure Services and Manager Planning and Development.
There was no objection from the Manager Planning and Development subject to the closed road being amalgamated in with the adjoining land and that no new lots are created.
The Acting Director Infrastructure Services provided an objection to the application for permanent road closure as it is conceivable that the road reserve may be required for road maintenance purposes in the future.
This may include drainage works, vegetation management, potential use of the road reserve for a side track during maintenance works on the pavement, or stockpiling of materials during road works.
SDRC has proposed that instead a temporary closure be considered, meaning that the owners can use this land for agricultural purposes however SDRC can also use it if needed.
It was noted that there is another road reserve on the eastern side of Washpool Road that could be utilised by SDRC, which could allow for the permanent closure of the road reserve.
In the meeting, Councillor Stephen Tancred questioned whether the agricultural purposes the owners were intending to carry out were cropping or grazing.
He stated that if it was grazing, Council could reasonably carry out work however if they were cropping Council may be interfering.
Staff said they could get back to him with that information; however Councillor Andrew Gale said he was aware of this block of land and expected it would be grazing.
