Port Macquarie-Hastings Council’s draft unsealed roads policy says a Crown road transferred to it does not, of itself, oblige it to maintain or seal the road

The short answer. If you live on a gravel road in the Hastings and want it sealed, this draft does not change your odds. Sealing still happens only through special purpose projects identified by a council resolution within its Operational Plan, subject to available funding such as Grant Funding. If your road is a Crown road, the state’s rather than the council’s, the draft is more direct than the 2024 policy about what a handover would and would not bring: no automatic maintenance, upgrade or seal. The council says the changes do not reduce existing service levels for roads currently maintained by Council. It is a draft on exhibition; councillors have not adopted it.

Sealing: the rule that did not change

The two sentences on sealing are the same in the policy adopted in August 2024 and in the draft. The draft adds one line after them, and the council’s exhibition page adds a second warning: requests to seal a particular road are not what this consultation is for. Requests to seal or substantially upgrade individual roads are also outside the scope of this exhibition. Road defects and maintenance requests go through the council’s Report an Issue form, as before.

The sealing clause, 2024 and draft

Adopted 15 August 2024

Council will not routinely program activities to seal unsealed roads. Sealing only through special purpose projects identified by council resolution within the Operational Plan, subject to available funding such as grants.

Draft, September 2026

The same two sentences, then one more: Road categorisation does not, in itself, justify or trigger sealing works.

Five categories, and what a category decides

Every unsealed road the council manages goes in one of five categories, as in 2024. The draft’s change is method: a written assessment framework and a categorisation checklist, with traffic the primary test, then the road’s width, drainage and condition, then school bus routes, tourism access, the economic activity it serves and emergency access. A new Asset Protection Principle lets the council keep a borderline road in the higher category if it is already performing at that standard. The category sets the level of service, the maintenance standard and the priority for works. It does not put a road in line for a seal.

The draft’s five categories

A, Main RoadsKey links between towns, local centres or significant destinationsMore than 100 vehicles a day

B, Minor RoadsThrough or no-through roads serving multiple properties10 to 100 vehicles a day

C, Access TracksA limited number of properties; in rain, may close or be limited to 4WDFewer than 10 vehicles a day

D, Unformed or paper roadsOn the map, with no physical formationNot regularly used

E, Unsealed car parksNear reserves, recreation areas or public facilitiesLow speed, low risk

Crown roads: where the draft is new

Crown roads are public roads for which the state, through Crown Lands, is the roads authority. Most were never built; Crown Lands itself says they are often called paper roads, and We are not a road construction authority. The 2024 policy said the council would not maintain a Crown road unless it was on the council’s Road Asset Register and the council had records of the transfer. The draft instead recognises that the council already maintains some Crown roads that have not been transferred, and lets those be categorised and managed under the policy without changing who owns them. The council’s own summary of changes gives the reason as reflecting operational reality and cites a Crown Lands circular, 26-04, on transfers. We did not find that circular; its content here is the council’s description.

The central sentence is this one: The transfer of a Crown Road to Council does not, of itself, create an obligation for Council to provide maintenance, upgrade works, sealing works or increased service levels. Around it, the draft sets out what happens next, in this order.

A Crown road handed to the council, under the draft

1. The road is assessed against the checklist, given a category and recorded on the council’s Road Asset Register.
2. If the council was not maintaining it immediately before the transfer, maintenance does not start straight away unless specific recurrent funding has been allocated in the budget.
3. Where the council is responsible for maintaining it, it is kept at the Category C access track standard until funding for a higher category is allocated through asset planning and the annual budget.
4. Nothing in the transfer creates an entitlement to an upgrade, a seal, widening or a higher level of service.

The state’s side explains why a council would write it down. Crown Lands’ transfer page says it can initiate a transfer itself, after consulting the council, and that for those transfers a council’s objection on the grounds of the road’s condition, or of the cost, is not a valid reason. Its answer to the cost question is one line.

Local councils have the ability to levy funds through development contributions, rates and grants for road repair and maintenance.

Development is the one place the draft puts a cost on someone else. Where a proposal relies on a Crown road that is unmaintained or below the required standard, the council will require, as a condition of consent, that the applicant upgrade the road to its assigned category, no lower than Category C, with all-weather access to the nearest local, regional or state road. Approving the development does not oblige the council to take the road over, upgrade it or seal it.

Gates, grids, driveways and private works

The 2024 policy had separate clauses for cattle grids, public gates and driveways; the draft folds them into one framework for private assets in a road reserve. The landowner who benefits still pays for everything, from installation to removal, unless the council approves an exemption, and the council accepts no obligation to maintain the asset. Two 2024 sentences are not in the draft at all.

What else moves, 2024 policy against the draft

Topic	Adopted August 2024	Draft, September 2026
Public gates	Considered on a Major or Local Road only when applied for by the last property owner at the end of a no through road; the council may lower the level of service beyond the gate	Neither sentence appears; gates and grids may be considered under the Roads Act and the private assets framework
Private works	An adjoining owner may pay to upgrade a road or for extra maintenance; no commitment to regular maintenance	Funded by the applicant; no change to the council’s maintenance obligations; no guaranteed change of category or service level
Sale of a road	The council may consider an application from an adjoining owner	Closure and sale must be endorsed by a decision of the council; the applicant bears the costs
Development on a Crown road	Not addressed	Applicant upgrades the road to its category, no lower than Category C, as a condition of consent

When it is decided

From the 2024 policy to a decision

1. 15 Aug 2024Current policy authorised by Council; next review date August 2026.
2. 12 Aug 2026Draft revised policy approved by the Director, Community Infrastructure, per its document control table.
3. 30 Sep 2026Public exhibition opens.
4. Thu 29 OctSubmissions close, 5pm.
5. 17 DecEngagement report and revised policy presented at a Council meeting, on the council’s project timeline.

Submissions go through the survey or form on the project page, by email to council@pmhc.nsw.gov.au, or by post to The General Manager, Port Macquarie Hastings Council, PO Box 84, Port Macquarie NSW 2444.

Our view

Most of this draft is housekeeping, and the council is right to say plainly that a category is not a promise of bitumen; telling people that once, in the policy, is cheaper for everyone than answering it road by road. The Crown roads section is the part with consequences. Read against the 2024 policy, which said the council would not maintain an untransferred Crown road, the recognition that it already maintains some looks like the policy catching up with practice, and the council’s own summary says as much. Read against Crown Lands’ rules, which do not let a council refuse a transfer on cost, the “of itself” sentences are the council’s defence: it can be handed the road but not, by that act, the bill. That is a reasonable position for a council with limited money. It also means a household on an unmaintained Crown road should not expect a transfer to change much until councillors fund it in a budget.

Two things are worth asking in a submission. The draft says a road’s category is decided with the Unsealed Roads Categorisation Checklist, including estimated traffic where nothing has been counted; as at 10 October the checklist was not among the two documents on the project page, and it is the tool that decides which standard a road gets. And the draft does not say how many Crown roads the council maintains now, or how many more might come its way.

We will read the report that brings the final policy back to the council, listed on its timeline for 17 December, and set out what changed after exhibition.