At its February meeting, council moved a notion of motion from Cr Peter Alley to request that Ocean Drive and Hastings River Drive be reclassified from regional road to state road.

Mr Alley is also the Labor candidate for the state seat of Port Macquarie.

The candidate described Ocean Drive as the "lifeblood of the Camden Haven".

"It needs the recognition and the resources that a state road receives," Mr Alley said.

“The reclassification of this road to a state road will release resources to the other sealed and unsealed roads in our network.

“Port Macquarie Hastings Council endorsed the reclassification of the Ocean Drive/Hastings River Drive corridor at the council meeting on February 20, 2019.

“A Labor government can invest more in our roads because we are not wasting money on rebuilding stadiums in Sydney.”

Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams says she has raised the issue of transferring the Ocean Drive and Hastings River Drive corridor to state control.

"I will continue to advocate for what I see as the benefits of making changes to road classifications," Mrs Williams said.

"Quite clearly Port Macquarie-Hastings Council has a huge maintenance backlog that looks to be increasing so I will continue to do anything I can if at the end of the day the community benefits.

“Between 2011 and 2018, the state government has provided almost $38 million to the Port Macquarie-Hastings Council to fund local road projects in our area including the majority of the funding for Stingray Creek Bridge.  

"So it is not unusual to provide funding for local roads and if Ocean Drive was to be reclassified to become a state asset obviously we would be ultimately responsible."

The Port Macquarie MP said she will continue to advocate for increased funding for Ocean Drive.

NSW opposition Leader Michael Daley says he will constitute an expert panel from key stakeholder groups like Local Government NSW, the Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia, Roads and Maritime Services and other community and stakeholder groups that will identify and assess applications by local councils for more funding for specific local roads.

The last road classification review was commissioned in 2003 and not finished until 2007, more than a decade ago.

Since then, local councils across NSW have had to shoulder an increased share of road funding despite the increased use of local roads for state traffic movements, he said.

Cost shifting from state to local government is currently running at $820 million every year.

For council the figure is $16m per year. And rising.

The Ocean Drive and Hastings River Drive corridor is bound at each end is the Pacific Highway. 

It threads 48 kilometre from Kew, through Lakewood, West Haven, Laurieton, North Haven, Bonny Hills, Lake Cathie and Port Macquarie.

NSW shadow minister for roads, maritime and freight Jodi McKay said NSW Labor was working to better ensure the safety of all roads and NSW Labor’s roads review was the first step in this process.

“Councils have told us that the greatest cost burden relates to road infrastructure improvements and maintenance and that an urgent review of road classification is needed,” she said.

“The Coalition government has had ten years to instigate a review and despite appeals from local councils, there’s been no action on making road funding fairer.”

At council's February meeting, Cr Alley said the allocation of classifications for roads was done "in my view, haphazard".

"There are roads in the centre of Sydney that are called state roads," Cr Alley said.

"The only state roads we have are the Oxley and Pacific Highways.

"We regularly get "gifts" from the state government - a section of the highway, a bridge.

"I propose we give back (to the state government) - in the spirit of giving back - this section of Ocean Drive and Hastings River Drive."

Cr Mike Cusato said council is gifted roads once they have been re-routed.

"Now, these are considered an asset but if that asset costs you a million dollars to maintain, it is not an asset," he said.

"If the state (government) spent a million dollars on a road, then we would be spending the same amount of money on it. Is this the spirit of giving?"

Cr Rob Turner said council was trying to make do with a massively growing area and a massive backlog of road maintenance works.

Council general manager Craig Swift-McNair will write to minister for roads, maritime and freight, Melinda Pavey requesting the reclassification under the roads act 1993.

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