Turon Gates owner Michael Lunoe unimpressed with quality of Turon Gates Road

Recent rainfalls and traffic use have caused the road to break-down over time and Turon Gates proprietor Michael Lunoe is fed up with the lack of council maintenance on the Government-owned dirt road.

"We're getting to a point where this road is becoming unusable and unsafe for two-wheel drive vehicles and if that's the case then our business isn't going to be able to operate," he said.

Mr Lunoe said for most people Turon Gates Road, is their road to get home.

"For us, it's our road to get home and it's also our livelihood," he said.

"I shouldn't have to drive an off-road vehicle just to get home."

Turon Gates is a holiday destination with up to 300 visitors staying when full, Mr Lunoe said.

"These [visitors] are tourists and holiday makers from cities and they do not have raised four-wheel drive vehicles," he said.

"Turon Gates Road is a road with two-wheel drive access but right now this road is not suitable for two-wheel drive vehicles," he said.

Due to the lack of maintenance Mr Lunoe said Turon's customer base has faced challenges with unimpressed clients.

"I've literally had customers I've had to refund because they come driving down the road in their expensive cars and turn around and go home," he said.

"We've had people say they won't be back because of the roads."

Recently money slipped through Mr Lunoe's fingers when a wedding party refused to have the event at Turon Gates.

"We had some people come down here to have a wedding, the bride had been here many times, she loves the place but her father came to check it out and he gave me a spraying, he said there's no way he can ask his friends and family to drive down that road," he said.

"He called it a goat track and that was it, so that was a loss of 100 people here for the weekend."

He said his business was suffering due to 12 kilometres of unmaintained road to get to Turon but other local businesses and tourism were also feeling the effects.

"It's not just our business that benefits from our customers coming here, when we're busy a lot of people come here and they stay here for days on end

"They support other local businesses, from Sofala, Capertee Pub, Lithgow ... everybody that comes here they have to stop for fuel, food and see local tourist attractions," he said.

"But we have guests turn back, we have guests write bad reviews and we have guests just never return to Turon, which means they will probably never return to Lithgow."

After months of back-and-forth emails with Lithgow City Council, Mr Lunoe was less than impressed with their minimal effort to maintain the road.

"I've been in contact with them regularly about this where the problems lie and the concerns that I've got," he said.

"The roads are getting worse but I'm just getting fobbed off," he said.

Mr Lunoe said he begged Council for help and was told staff would be out in May to fix the road, but they never came.

"The roads were bad eight months ago and they came down and did a minor touch up and then they haven't done it since. We haven't seen them in eight months," he said.

Lithgow City Council director infrastructure services Jonathon Edgecombe said Council were acutely aware of Mr Lunoe's concerns and confirmed Council has maintained the Turon Gates Road at least twice in the past nine months.

"Additional to this, there have been other instances of minor patching and vegetation control performed in the past nine months," he said.

"Council has also spent $70,000 to replace the Turon Gates Road timber bridge with a concrete alternative to improve the resilience of access."

Mr Lunoe said he understood Turon Gates Road was one of many that Lithgow Council was responsible for.

"Obviously we're aware that there are many roads and we're not just the only road, and everybody wants a safe road to get home on, but over the last six or seven years they've continually reduced the amount of expenditure on the dirt roads in the region," he said.

"We're going around with buckets of gravel to shovel into pot holes to stop people's cars from getting damaged on a government road."

Mr Lunoe expressed his frustration with Council not doing "the bare minimum".

"Council is doing less work, not more work. We aren't allowed to fix it, they have to fix it, it's their responsibility," he said.

"Just do your job, I'm not asking you to help market our businesses, or do anything above and beyond the standard infrastructure requirements that our society needs," he said.

"To make sure we've got water, roads and electricity, just help us with the basics. We're all good hard-working people we'll take care of the rest."

Mr Edgcombe said the effects of three natural disasters in the past 18 months had disrupted their standard maintenance and operations but Council was working to get back on track.

"Eight contractors have been engaged and are working steadfast alongside all of Council's staff to continue to progressively address the prioritised needs of our LGA," he said.

Mr Edgecombe said a contractor has been engaged to resheet the Dark Corner Road and then move onto Turon Gates Road.

He said Council expects the flood damage costs to exceed $10 million, with over $2 million in repairs have been delivered to date.

"Many assets have been repaired, however many remain which require work. Our recovery will take up to two years, however our objective is to build back better," he said.

"With limited resources, and many neighbouring Council's suffering the same challenges if not worse, there are a shortage of staff and contractors across the state. However, all of Council's staff and all available local contractors remain dedicated to the recovery effort and we will persist until it is complete. It is important that we address these needs in a prioritised fashion," Mr Edgcombe said.

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