Winterbourne Wind proposes Thunderbolts Way heavy vehicle access route

Winterbourne Wind have revised the oversize/overmass (OSOM) route in an effort to address concerns raised by Walcha and surrounding communities.

Winterbourne Wind propose the heavy vehicle route to run along the New England Highway until just south of Uralla at Staces Road. From Staces Road, a new road will be constructed through Crown Land which connects Staces Road to Thunderbolts Way.

In a statement, Winterbourne Wind said the Uralla and Walcha Councils and the NSW Lands department had all "agreed in principle" to the new proposed route.

"Winterbourne Wind has listened to locals who wanted the transport route for oversize vehicles changed from the Oxley Highway and we've moved the route to address these concerns," they said.

"Winterbourne Wind will be responsible for any damage caused to the roads and we will continue to harness local knowledge to improve the project."

Walcha Mayor Eric Noakes said Council still have a lot of work to do in terms of negotiations with Winterbourne Wind and also turbine manufacturers Vestas regarding the use of Thunderbolts Way for OSOM purposes including ongoing maintenance concerns and traffic control.

"The re-route proposal is in their update, it's in their answer to (EIS) submissions but we haven't engaged a lot on it, there is still a lot of work to do and a lot of questions to be answered," Cr Noakes said.

"Obviously the major issue is of course the fact that the traffic will now come off a state road which is the Oxley Highway, and coming onto a regional road that is Thunderbolts Way and is looked after by council.

"We need to work it out with Vestas the plans for that, how that would work on maintenance of that road and also traffic control."

"The road currently is in quite a good state considering the traffic it carries, however we start putting oversize/overmass loads on that road it will simply be pulverized which is why we need to have detailed discussions with developers and with engineers well beforehand.

"So there's a long way to go on that one I would imagine."

Uralla Mayor Robert Bell echoed the sentiment of his neighbouring counterpart and said there are further discussions to be had between Uralla, Walcha councils and Winterbourne Wind regarding the Thunderbolts Way proposal.

"We've had some preliminary discussions with Winterbourne Wind and we have given in principle support for Spaces Road and upgrading, and building a road on the TSR," he said.

"Negotiations around how we manage the maintenance and upgrade work on Thunderbolts Way haven't commenced.

"In my view, we are at the stage where we would need significant negotiations around the use of Thunderbolts way because the Oxley Highway is a state maintained road where as Thunderbolts way in council maintained."