Heritage heartache: plea to repair part of Morpeth's history

John Lyons says he has been battling with Maitland council over repairs to sandstone kerb and gutter in Princess Street for four years and nothing has been done.

Now Mr Lyons, who is also Maitland council's heritage committee chairman, has the backing of his colleagues in a bid to have the handmade stone repaired.

The committee agreed in May to put the matter before the council's infrastructure and planning departments and hopes a resolution will soon come.

Council's works manager Ashley Kavanagh said sandstone kerb and gutter was an asset to the city and funding was allocated to projects based on a priority system that considered "risk, traffic volumes, usage, functionality and community feedback".

He said work on Close Street in Morpeth was on the list and council had "spent significant funds for many years on numerous sandstone kerb and gutter projects across many locations in Morpeth, East Maitland and Maitland".

Mr Lyons said the council should have repaired the sandstone years ago to ensure it was preserved.

"It was hand cut by stone masons in the 1840s, we've got beautiful hand circled stone that has been hand cut on the corners. It is classified as a heritage item under heritage trust protection," he said.

"They should be repairing it, it has been run over by garbage trucks and it holds water and allows the water to go into the joins in the sandstone and soften the clay, which breaks up the road."

Councillor Sally Halliday represents council on the committee and hoped the matter would "be addressed at the highest level". She wanted to know how council are going to fix it.

"It needs to be fixed to support Morpeth and to retain the historical things," she said.

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