newy.com.au – Maitland City Council will match more than $2.5 million in federal funding to complete a higher road at Oakhampton Heights, aiming to reduce the time residents are isolated during floods.
The funding from the Australian Government’s Safer Local Roads Infrastructure Program will allow the second stage of the new Scobies Lane to proceed, completing about 770 metres of road.
Detailed design for the project, valued by the council at $5 million, will now proceed. The council will review its capital works schedule to accommodate the work as soon as practical.
Maitland Mayor Philip Penfold said residents had experienced prolonged isolation during floods in July 2022 and May 2025, and the higher road would help shorten those periods.
“The council has been working hard on improving access in this area for a number of years, and being able to make the new Scobies Lane up to 1.5 metres higher and add better pedestrian access will make a big difference,” Mayor Penfold said.
The council’s city services director Jason Linnane said the stage one works at Oakhampton Heights, completed in 2024, laid the foundations for the new road parallel to and south of the original Scobies Lane. The original lane serves as an emergency route during minor flooding.
“Now we have received further funding, we can move on to delivering stage two and complete the project, which will see the road operate as a normal public road.”
A 2.5 metre wide shared pathway will also be built beside the new road. The council is also progressing a 15 kilometre citywide pathway project connecting Walka Water Works to Maitland’s CBD.
