Catherine Taylor - 9 September 2025
Catherine Taylor presented to Council at the Public Access Session on 9 September 2025.
Good morning Mayor and Councillors. Thankyou for the opportunity to present to you today.
I, Catherine Taylor, am presenting an historical account of our (My husband and my) memory of the Congo Road Acquisition Process with specific reference to the Administration Report to Ordinary Meeting to Council held on Tuesday 23rd March 1999. (appendix attached).
We, Catherine and Ian Taylor, are the owners and have been the shared owners of Lot 24 DP 824536 which is now 341 Congo Road, Moruya Heads, NSW 2537 since 1986.
In 1998 we were approached by Eurobodalla Shire Council with a request for ESC to purchase parts of the Congo road that we owned. This would involve a combination of swapping the Cadastral Roads on our property for equal area of the Congo Road (we owned) combined with financial reimbursement for balance of land area requiring the purchase to be completed.
Our negotiations culminated with us being given a sense we were only given two options:
1: Agree with ESC’s conditions of purchase options.
2: Have our land acquired by ESC through compulsory purchase order procedures.
We had telephone calls and onsite face to face discussions with Eurobodalla Shire Council representatives regarding this process.
Noted in the recommendation of the Administration Report to Ordinary Meeting to council held on Tuesday 23rd March 1999 page 5.4 (Appendix 1):
Details of who and when we spoke to Eurobodalla Shire council were not recorded.
We distinctly remember asking the following questions:
1: What happens if we do not want to trade our land for the paper roads and choose not to sell you (Council) the remaining land where the Congo Road runs through our property?
Answer: We (ESC) would action a compulsory purchase order to acquire your land. You may find yourself responsible for all accidents that happen on that section of the road if you continue to own the land. All necessary road improvements will not be able to take place. Therefore, we would be required to action a compulsory purchase order.
2. Will all other landholders on the Congo Road that own parts of the current Congo Road be forced to follow this procedure?
Answer: Yes, all landholders that own land that forms the current path of the Congo Road will follow the same procedure so we can legalise the Congo Road.
3. Will we always be able to drive through to Congo? Is there any chance that the road will be closed due to landholders not agreeing to this process.
Answer: Yes, you will always be able to drive through to Congo. No, the road won’t be closed.
We remember asking these questions as the answers we received were instrumental in the decisions we made. Noting, we informally discussed an option to temporarily close the Congo Road at our northern boundary while the compulsory purchase order procedure be actioned. This was discussed to explore a way to incentivise landholders to the east of us to engage and enable ESC to own and improve all sections of the Congo Road.
As evidence of our consultation strategies it was noted in the recommendation of the Administration Report to Ordinary Meeting to council held on Tuesday 23rd March 1999 page 5.1 that we were “seeking a firm commitment”.
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This also provides evidence of the “firmness of our conversations and the high level of detail that we discussed.
It is also important to note the “in principle” agreement given by owners of Lot 197 to the opening and closing of the Congo Road as referenced in the Administration report. This is evidence of information we would have been given by Council with our negotiations with them with respect to understanding other land holders positions on this matter. This “in principle agreement” given by owners of Lot 197 as documented in the Administration report would have been influential with our decision-making processes to proceed with the Congo Road Acquisition process.
In the attached report it also identifies the combined discussion of the Congo Creek Bridge upgrade and the Congo Road land acquisition process. This enabled the differential treatment experienced by landholders as only 2 out of the 3 landholders were involved in the Congo Creek Bridge upgrade.
In hindsight the Congo Creek Bridge upgrade, which only affected us, owners of Lot 24 and owners of Lot 181 placed more pressure on owners of these two properties to engage in the land acquisition program and enabled owners of Lot 197 to have more time to consider and adjust their options.
In light of the current circumstances, we feel that this differential treatment of the affected land holders of Lot 24, Lot, 181 and Lot 197 has led to our current situation of the Congo Road closure where we find our most direct access to Congo disabled. This has significantly impacted our health, wellbeing and community connection. We urge Councillors to consider an approach to create equitable and fair solution for all residents of Congo and Moruya Heads.
Please refer to the attached appendix for a copy of the Administration Report to Ordinary Meeting to council held on Tuesday 23rd March 1999
APPENDIX 1:
Administration Report to Ordinary Meeting to Council held on Tuesday 23rd March 1999.
