Mayoral Column 28th May 2020
Published on 28 May 2020
Council facilities reopening from June 1
From next Monday, June 1st, Council will reopen the Goulburn Mulwaree Library, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, Rocky Hill War Memorial Museum and the Goulburn Historic Waterworks Museum.
The NSW Government this week announced that museums, galleries and libraries across NSW will be allowed to reopen from June, with strict new protocols in place. Each facility will have guest numbers limited to allow for 4 square metres per person.
I know how important these facilities are for our community, and am looking forward to having them open again soon for community use.
Strict guidelines will be in place for distancing and hygiene, and no tours or groups will be allowed just yet. We will also have 24 hour quarantine of books returned at the library as an example of the measures that will be in place. We cannot reinforce strongly enough that you should not come into our facilities if you are unwell – let’s make sure we can keep them open!
Aquatic Centre
Unfortunately we won’t be reopening our Aquatic Centre at this stage. NSW Government has moved to allow squad training in indoor pools, however have only allowed one swimmer per lane. As our indoor pool is 5 lanes wide, we just can’t justify heating of the pool and funding staff for only five swimmers at any one time – we will revisit this as restrictions ease further, however at this stage our clear plan is to begin demolition of the indoor pool hall in September for the exciting redevelopment of the Goulburn Aquatic Centre.
Kinghorne Street Load Limit
Council will impose a 12 tonne limit along Kinghorne Street in Goulburn following our meeting last Tuesday night.
Staff recently received correspondence from a number of residents who claimed high heavy truck use of the street – this was then verified, with traffic counts showing an average of 286 heavy vehicles using the road each day in late 2019.
Continued use of the road by heavy trucks will cause rapid deterioration of the pavement, therefore Council after consultation with the Traffic Committee, has moved to implement this limit.
Passenger buses will of course be exempt from this load limit, and a grace period of two weeks (until 8th July) has been given to educate our heavy vehicle drivers. Heavy vehicles are encouraged to use the existing heavy vehicle routes such as Marys Mount Road, Goldsmith Street, Clinton Street and Sloane Street.
Council staff will now also investigate the feasibility and costs associated with traffic calming measures to assist with implementation of the load limits.