WARBURTON builder Jeremy Gough has hit out at local residents he says are using an incident in Martyrs Road as an excuse to stop development in the area.
Martyrs Road resident Valda Street and other residents told the Mail (Hill Street Blues 22 May) they were concerned about the potential for injury after a truck delivering steel girders lost its load in April.
The road has a one in 3.6 metre gradient.
A planning permit for the construction of Ythan Springs Resort at the top of Martyrs Road requires that work starts in November and residents said they are concerned about the increased number of delivery trucks.
Mr Gough says they are clutching at straws.
“I know the road is steep but I don’t think it is so steep as to warrant people using it as an excuse not to do any development up here,” he said.
“This is an isolated incident and to say it’s going to happen with every truck is a bit far fetched,” he said.
He explained that the truck delivering the girders to his building site on Martyrs Road lost traction because of oil on the road causing the girders to “shudder” off the truck.
He said he had had large volumes of building materials, including shipping containers delivered safely to the property and always informed transport companies of the need to secure their load to safely manage a very steep road.
“It’s very rare that something falls off the back,” he said.
Ms Street, however, is standing by her view that more needs to be done to ensure loads are secured in a way which ensures they never lose a load.
She said the incident was not isolated and that bricks and steel rods had also come off trucks in the past.
“One incident,” she said “was one too many.”
Ms Street said the Shire of Yarra Ranges was investigating whether additional signage was needed to alert truck drivers to the unusually steep gradient.
“WorkSafe also want to be advised as soon as work on the development starts,” she added.
The initial Martyrs Road report stated that the girders slid 400 metres down the road. That was incorrect. Ms Street said she paced the distance out at 200 metres.
– Kath Gannaway
