Turf thief hits Pottsville worksite again

16 September 2016

Council asks community to help stop theft

Council has completed work on its second Koala Zone in the Tweed but cannot call the job finished, as a thief continues to steal turf from the roadside verges.

Over the past month, the thief has taken up to 10 cubic metres of turf from the Coronation Drive worksite in Pottsville three times.

Council is appealing for help from the community to catch the culprit. If anyone sees people acting suspiciously or a vehicle stopped at the worksite at night, please take note of the make and model of that vehicle and numberplate and report it to Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or Council on (02) 6670 2400 or after hours on 1800 818 326.

The koala crossing in Coronation Avenue Pottsville is the second in the Shire branded with the distinctive green and yellow markings. It has been applied to the new surface of a 300m stretch of road that passes through a low-lying area in Pottsville, separating two known koala habitats along a narrow vegetation corridor.

The decision to install the koala zone coincided with the scheduled upgrade of that section of road.

Council installed its first koala zone on Clothiers Creek Road, Clothiers Creek, in November 2014 and has since collected evidence that shows they do work. The effectiveness of that zone has been measured via traffic counters recording the speed of motorists. Since installing the branded koala zone, there has been a positive trend of proportionally fewer motorists travelling at speeds above the posted limit - 60 per cent in January 2016 as opposed to 75 per cent before the zone was created.

The Koala Zone branding was paid for via a one-off offset contribution of $50,000 for the removal of some trees in Pottsville by a private developer some years ago.

The road upgrade included construction of a slow point median to force traffic to reduce speed at that critical koala crossing point. The speed limit on the section currently is set at 50km/h.

Two solar street lights are yet to be installed to assist motorists to see any koalas that may be on or approaching the road.

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Caption: Council is asking for the public's help to catch a turf thief at Pottsville