LIGHTNING RIDGE Chamber of Commerce has expressed surprise at two roads marked for closure by Walgett Council.
At its meeting last week council agreed to close one unsealed road north of town and continue work to close the other south of town both intersecting with the Castlereagh Highway.
A report from council’s roads and bridges manager, Alan Nelson, said the roads have been made “redundant by the opening of Bill O’Brien Way.”
The road north of Lightning Ridge is accessed from Onyx Street past Bogas and the sewerage treatment works and  exits on the highway was an “unnecessary asset”, he said.
But the road north of town was a major access for Wyoming, the Strasek opal field and the 10-mile gravel pit, according to Eddie Webb, the chamber’s vice president, industrial.
“If this map is correct, then a lot of people are going to be concerned about this,” Mr Webb said.
“Miners will have to go miles out their way to get to the dams and  how will the trucks get in and out at harvest?
“Where were the Lightning Ridge councillors when they voted on this?”
Council was also negotiating to close what was once entry road to Lightning Ridge to the  south through Lorne Station, he said.
But Mr Nelson’s report made it clear that If council left the roads open it was liable for ongoing maintenance, or could be found negligent in case of an accident.
“In a remarkable coincidence,” the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources had written to council asking if it had any objection to the clossure of the northern road, the report said.
The department suggested most of the road be closed but it may be possible to close it completely.
The leaseholder on that land would probably not object to closing the road as that property had direct access to the highway, he said.
“The strategic plan states that ‘we will manage our assets in a sensible and responsible manner’ - part of this strategy is seen to be disposal of unnecessary assets, which this road is seen to be,” Mr Nelson wrote.