Four failed motions, a broken bridge and no funding - the Cuttagee saga rolls on

After four separate motions and one and a half hours of debate about the bridge, council is back where it started with the motion of March 2021, to demolish the bridge and replace it with a concrete structure and two-lane road.

There has been considerable resistance from the community to the bridge being replaced with a two-lane, concrete structure.

A critical part of Cr O'Neil's motion was to seek state government funding for an external study into the feasibility and costs of a sustainable and safe timber or hybrid one-lane bridge at Cuttagee.

Council has been dependent on the state government's Fixing Country Bridges program but it only provides for concrete replacements and does not cover heritage bridges.

"We need to find a path forward, with the by-election it is important we speak to state partners about the problems their funding is causing. It is not eligible for funding because there's nothing for timber," Cr O'Neil said.

Acting CEO Anthony McMahon said heritage listed bridges were not eligible and the money was withdrawn when the state government realised, although the fact that it was listed had been included in council's submission, he said.

The bridge is in a serious condition with weight limits having been imposed recently. Council's director, assets and operations, Ian Macfarlane said $50,000 had been spent on emergency work and the replacement of two girders would cost another $50,000.

"We have less than $1 million for bridge maintenance of all 238 bridges across the shire. Last year work on Slaters Lane bridge cost $250,000," Mr Macfarlane said.

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Cr O'Neil said Cuttagee was one of five timber bridges along a road that was "one of the most beautiful in NSW" with the potential for cultural tourism.

She reminded councillors that "most of us gave a commitment to support this bridge and we have a responsibility to honour our commitment".

But Cr Mitchell Nadin said it was "easy to get carried away" when making election promises. He said once elected and with full information "you have the right to change your mind".

When Cr O'Neil's motion failed to get majority support, the mayor Russell Fitzpatrick's foreshadowed motion to replace the bridge with with a two-lane concrete structure as in the original motion of March 2021 was debated.

"We have to have a long term solution and Stage 3 (Fixing Country Bridges) may be open to us - other councils have the same problems. I want to give it a start and some direction," Cr Fitzpatrick said.

When his motion failed to get majority support, Karen Wright's foreshadowed motion which was the same as Cr Fitzpatrick's but with the change of making it a composite one-lane structure, was put to councillors, but it too failed.

Cr David Porter's foreshadowed motion to defer discussion and hold a workshop on the matter was put and also failed.

Speaking after the meeting Cr O'Neil said there was a problem because there was no funding.

"I'm deeply disappointed, I thought we had a pathway forward. We will be back debating this in another three months," she said.