Secret Unley 🤐

I was staggered to read in the newspaper (EC 15 May) that the cost for rebuilding King William Road had blown out by 250%, up from $6m to $15.5m. What on earth has happened?  Why didn't Council decide to scale back the work to a more modest upgrade, similar to what was done on Goodwood Road. That's what I advocated back in 2018. A bitumen road would have saved 20-30% and has lower ongoing maintenance costs.

That was the first shock.

The second shock was the newspaper report that all road contract details and project discussions will remain confidential for at least 12 months. Why? The contract has been awarded and work is about to start. Surely we have a right to be informed.

We're simply told that the work will be complete in February 2020.

There's no mention of the fact (according to a source) that work will stop during the period of December to January to help traders with Christmas trade and to host another $250k Tour Down Under street party.

I'm surprised that Unley Mayor Michael Hewitson has not explained to us residents why the need for no transparency and openness. Wasn't transparency and openness a part of his election campaign?