Pole Position

19 Dec Pole Position

Dear Here to Help,

I was riding the bike path in Jesmond, beside the bypass, and a pole was sticking out at 45 degrees. I didn’t see it as it was in the tree shadows and was not marked with any tape or paint. I hit the pole and hurt myself, my bike and my Strava times! I notified Council and about 6 months later, the pole was removed, then put back, still at a 45 degree angle. What is the process to get Council to do something about this dangerous pole, before it causes serious injury to someone? And how long should all this take?

Thank you for your query.

The City of Newcastle has an online service request form and you can always call 49742000. However, there are no timeframes for them to come back to you, or deal with an issue.
Sometimes things go missing, so it is always worth trying again – either lodging the form again or phoning to follow up on your report. In my experience, phoning to follow up is usually a better option, as you can get the name of the person you talk to.

Council doesn’t provide any timeframes for responding to a report, but they say for easy issues, they will try to get back within 48-72 hours.

Claims for compensation must be lodged using the appropriate form. That said, I’m not sure what sort of compensation you might want for your Strava times.

If you are not happy with the outcome, you can lodge a complaint here. Their policy explains how council handles complaints. In terms of timeframes, they undertake to acknowledge all complaints within three working days. Once council has decided on its response, it will contact you withing 15 working days to advise you. This means most simple complaints should be resolved in this time, but complaints that council sees as complex do not have a timeframe to be resolved.
You can appeal council’s decision on your complaint. First, to someone more senior in council. Then, to an external agency, which could be the Ombudsman, Office of Local Government or ICAC, depending on the situation.

I hope that helps. Good luck!

This article comes from my column entitled “Here to Help” in Hunter Local, December 2022. If you have an everyday problem just begging for a simple, real world solution, send it to “Here to Help” and let’s see what we can achieve.

Elaine Abery has a closet full of great ideas and empowering solutions. She’s also the Director of Unravelling Red Tape, a company dedicated to helping everyday people, not-for-profits and companies change the world through improved decision-making and legislation.