Tocal Field Days organisers left astounded

BY JESSICA ROUSE

The annual Tocal Field Days are fast approaching, but organisers have hit a bump in the road finding out Morpeth Bridge will be closed for maitenance during the event.

Morpeth Bridge is a popular route used by many to get to Tocal during the busy event, particularly interstate visitors to the Hunter.

The bridge will be closed between the 5th & 8th May, with motorists re-directed to a route adding nearly 10 minutes to their journey.

Tocal Field Days manager Wendy Franklin is astounded she wasn't consulted by Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) about the closure.

Image tocalfielddays.com.au

"We made very strong representations that we weren't happy with them closing the bridge and they said they're not changing it. They were very adamant that it won't be changed and they weren't interested in any discussions at all," said Wendy Franklin.

RMS say there won't be a significant impact on motorists with a detour in place via Harry Boyle Bridge at Pitnacree and a sign on the highway pointing drivers to the detour.

Organisers were even more frustrated when they heard RMS moved a bridge closure which coincided with an event at Morpeth to a different date, but strangely they won't budge for Tocal.

"They told us they changed the event around to suit events that are held at Morpeth and whilst that is also important to change the time that they did it based on an event at Morpeth, and not considering such a major event with people coming from interstate, just defies logic," said Wendy Franklin.

Wendy Franklin and her fellow organisers hope in the future a consultation process can be put in place which everyone can benefit from.

Morpeth Bridge is closing again, prompting fears from business owners.

BY JESSICA ROUSE

Morpeth Bridge is undergoing yet another round of restoration works which has forced its full closure from today until 6pm on Monday - much to the dismay of many local businesses.

The closure is required for the installation of temporary support structures which will allow remediation work to be undertaken.

However the weekend is often the busiest time of the week for trade and with one road into the town closed off, local business owners fear their profit will be at another loss.

Local business owner Andrew Mason says while the community are supportive of the bridge closure so it stays fully functioning into the future, businesses still have grave concerns.

"Typically the businesses reported at the last business closure a significant drop in revenue for that weekend and we have approached RMS [Roads and Maritime Services] to discuss with them how we might solve that problem for the businesses not for this closure but for the following closures which will occur in May and August this year."

Andrew says there wasn't enough communication between the RMS and local businesses regarding the closures, but hopes this will change in the future.

Local businesses have already had one win with the closure scheduled for Mother's Day weekend in May being moved to earlier in the week.

There will be two more bridge closures this year including May, and another in August.

Image courtesy of http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au