B-Doubles Community Consultation

Published on 05 March 2021

At the Council Meeting held on Wednesday 3 March 2021, Hindmarsh Shire Council resolved to give public notice of its proposed guidelines for assessing roads for the suitability of carrying B-Doubles.

The guidelines have been drafted to provide guidance, standards and processes for future gazetting of B Double roads within the Hindmarsh Municipality through the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR). Hindmarsh Shire Council are seeking written feedback on the proposed guidelines.

Hindmarsh Shire Council Mayor, Cr Ron Ismay advised that, “agriculture contributes a large percentage of the income generated within the Shire and getting goods to market is a key component of their business, so an efficient transport system is vital to the wellbeing of the shire.”

“Whilst B-Doubles have been around for over 30 years on interstate and arterial routes managed by VicRoads, we are now seeing a large increase in their use on local shire owned roads. The shire has used a permit system for many years which coped well with small numbers of farmer owned and operated trucks travelling known routes, but has not coped well with the large increase of Bdouble trips associated with the increased use of on-farm storage, changes in customer destinations, such as hay to NSW, and use of sub-contractor truck operators using multiple trucks on new routes at very short notice.”

“The shire has been asked by the farming community, to consider the gazetting of more shire roads for open access that can be used without a permit which would remove the waiting time for permits to be approved.”

“The Shire would like progress this process in a safe and efficient manner and Council Officers have proposed the use of technical guidelines prepared by the Australia Road Research Board (ARRB) for Local Government to assess rural roads and make judgements on their suitability for heavy truck movements including B-Doubles. In addition to the technical guidelines, the issues of prioritising which routes to assess, consultation and decision making delegation are also discussed.”

“Today’s Media Release is the first step in the consultation phase, it will provide interested parties the chance to comment on the technical guidelines for further consideration by Council at the 5 May 2021 Council Meeting, after which Council Officer’s will have a framework to assess the gazetting of specific roads and conduct more public consultation as and when necessary” added Cr Ismay.

Copies of the proposed guidelines will be available for inspection at the Customer Service Centres in Dimboola, Jeparit, Nhill and Rainbow, as well as on the Council website www.hindmarsh.vic.gov.au/have-your-say.

Written feedback in relation to the proposed guidelines must be received before 5pm on Friday 26 March 2021. Feedback should be addressed to the Chief Executive Officer and posted to Hindmarsh Shire Council PO Box 250 Nhill VIC 3418, or emailed to info@hindmarsh.vic.gov.au.An electronic submission form will also be available on Council’s website.

Any person requiring further information regarding the guidelines can contact Angela Hoy, Director Infrastructure Services, on 03 5391 4444 or email ahoy@hindmarsh.vic.gov.au.

Greg Wood

Chief Executive Officer