The new Ipswich City Council has recently committed $1.63 million for essential road upgrades in Thagoona, Rosewood, Marburg and Walloon. This was part of Council’s 2021-22 Budget that delivered a significant boost to road upgrades across the city’s older and established suburbs.
Division 4 Councillors Kate Kunzelmann and Russell Milligan fought hard for this result, acknowledging the Thagoona community had been forgotten for many years by the previous administration.
I am the first to give credit where credit is due, however the recent letter to the Editor from Mr Pahlke that the previous Council had planned to reconstruct Adelong Avenue with kerb and channelling and footpaths, with an estimated project cost of $5 million, is simply incorrect.
During his time as Division 10 Councillor, Mr Pahlke had raised Adelong Avenue as a potential kerb and channel project. Council records show it ranked fourth on his priority list, however no kerb and channel or footpath projects were scheduled for Thagoona from 2016-17 through to 2019-20.
While I’m sure Mr Pahlke recalls raising the project on behalf of the community, it was never included in the previous Council’s annual Budget.
Along with Crs Kunzelmann and Milligan, I am extremely proud of this outcome and to be delivering for the Ipswich community – particularly those suburbs that have been left out of Council budgets for far too long.
Initial works on surrounding roads will be underway from August to November 2021, followed by an additional $3.63 million for design work for both culvert replacement and road pavement on Adelong Avenue, Thagoona in 2022-23 and construction in 2023-24.
— Mayor Teresa Harding, Ipswich City Council
