Repair In Slow Lane
Newcastle Herald
Wednesday June 25, 2008
RESIDENTS say a year is too long to close a busy Newcastle road, and the last straw was watching the temporary fencing that closes off half of a large section of Newcomen Street come crashing down.
The fence was put up between Ordnance and Church streets in June 2007 to screen off a retaining wall around James Fletcher Hospital that collapsed during the Pasha storm.A hessian cover was added to the fence last week. Strong wind on Sunday brought most of the fence crashing down on the road, where it lay until Monday.The hessian has been removed.Newcomen Street resident Rosemary Bunker said she was concerned about how long repairs were taking and the potential hazard of the fence."If it [the fence] blows over it's still not really protecting people in the event that the wall falls down," she said.Residents plan to protest in Newcomen Street between 4pm and 5pm on Friday, calling for the wall to be fixed and the road reopened.A Hunter New England Health spokeswoman said the fence provided an important safety exclusion zone and it was reinforced on Monday. She said a recent assessment by structural engineers suggested damage to the retaining wall was more extensive than first thought.A meeting with stakeholders about the work would be held next week."Hunter New England Health is keen to achieve a resolution to the matter," she said.
© 2008 Newcastle Herald