By Jodie Symonds
A Belgrave mother believes her “unsafe” driveway is an accident waiting to happen for her disabled daughter.
Though, despite her calls to Yarra Ranges Council for assistance, they have said it is not their responsibility.
Mother-of-three, Kim Royle, and her daughter Bethany Boddy, 17, endure their daily journey down their uneven driveway, and Ms Royle said she had waited five years for it to be graded.
Bethany has Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder found almost exclusively in females, and may suddenly lose previously acquired abilities, including conscious control of her hands and the ability to vocalise most sounds or words.
Ms Royle has a knee complaint, which makes transporting Bethany down the driveway in her wheelchair even more difficult.
“I spoke to two people from council and I got told, ‘it’s your problem’,” Ms Royle said.
“I thought, ‘hang on, I pay rates and everything else’.
“The council vehicles use my driveway to turn around, but for some reason they can’t bring the grader up a couple of metres.”
Yarra Ranges Council director of Environment and Engineering, Mark Varmalis, said grading work did not impact private property including driveways and crossovers as part of the Under the Road Management Act.
He said grading works were scheduled for May on Ms Royle’s street, but will instead focus on continuing to improve the road surface for residents.
“Under the Road Management Act, Victorian landowners are responsible for constructing and maintaining driveways, crossovers and drainage underneath crossovers on their private property,” Mr Varmalis said.
“We have thousands of driveways across the municipality, and maintaining these would impose a significant cost on council and ratepayers.
“Council is responsible for cleaning table drains, but we acknowledge that landowners may have difficulty with clearing pipes under crossovers.”
Ms Royle said the driveway was extremely difficult to navigate.
Also, she requires the assistance of Bethany’s bus driver, Dianne Vaux, or other family members, to get Bethany up to the house after school.
“Obviously, we have a steep driveway, that isn’t the issue, the issue is where the gravel has worn away and I struggle to get the wheelchair over it,” Ms Royle said.
“Usually, I’m not one to complain, but I don’t ever ask for anything.
“All I want is for Beth to be safe when we get her down to the road to meet the bus – and afterschool when she needs to get back to the house.”
Bethany’s bus driver, Ms Vaux, said she would like to see council grade the area sooner than May.
“ … especially to have a disabled child in a wheelchair and nothing has been done about it is not okay,” she said.
“They’re (disabled children) fragile and it’s in everybody’s best interest to keep them safe.
“I help in the afternoon to get Bethany back up to the house because Kim can’t do it on her own.”
Mr Varmalis said residents could contact council to organise meetings with the road maintenance team supervisors, who can meet them onsite and inform them of where council’s responsibilities start and end.
