A NEWCASTLE council gang has had to tear up a strip of newly laid gutter and resurfaced road in Carrington after the original work did not have sufficient slope to allow water to flow to the nearby stormwater drain.
The work on Cowper Street opposite Carrington Bowling Club began last Saturday morning and continued through the week. It took two sets of questions from the Newcastle Herald before City of Newcastle acknowledged that the work was being done a second time.
A spokesperson blamed the flatness of Carrington for the difficulty in getting the gutter right the first time.
Civil engineers and former council workers asked by the Herald agreed with the council that it could be difficult to get gutters to "fall" towards stormwater drains in flat areas, but said there were few things as basic in any council's scope of works as kerb and guttering.
They say the council gets most of its jobs right, but some controversies - including 2019 roadworks that left a power pole sticking out of the road after a Wickham street corner realignment, and the immediate cracking of new walls at Newcastle Ocean Baths - have raised eyebrows.
At the time, the council said the Wickham fiasco was Ausgrid's responsiblity, while the cracks in work done by contractors at the baths were "superficial". There were "no concerns relating to (their) durability".
When the Herald asked on Monday why council workers had worked over the weekend on the newly laid section of road, a council spokesperson said they were engaged in drainage works including "a rain garden".
"A section of kerb and gutter is also being replaced to improve drainage efficiency and reduce ponding depths," the spokesperson said.
The work had been done on a Saturday to reduce the impact on traffic and users of the adjacent bus stop and pedestrian crossing.
"This also allowed us to accelerate works at this location and will ensure completion prior to Christmas," the spokesperson said.
After more detailed questions on Wednesday morning, the council responded on Thursday afternoon and acknowledged that "stormwater was not flowing as intended in Cowper Street".
"Carrington is extremely flat and kerb and gutter grading is key to when upgrade works are undertaken," the spokesperson said.
"The reconstruction of a section of the kerb, plus including a rain garden and some additional landscaping will assist in addressing water ponding."
The Herald asked for the cost of the repeated work, but the council gave only the total cost of $450,000, "including the recent minor works".
Sections of the gutter used permeable pavers, designed to allow water to seep into the sandy soil below.
They had been used elsewhere in Carrington and in Stockton.
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