Roads Authorities including Councils, cannot be held liable for everything that happens on their roads. It is extremely rare for Councils to be liable for damage caused as a result of hitting a pothole.

Council has immunity under legislation for claims arising in circumstances where Council had no actual knowledge of the pothole or lacked the resources to repair the pothole quickly and/or permanently.

Potholes and hazards can form on roads at any time for many different reasons. For example, significant rainfall, and patterns of intense and prolonged wet weather, can often lead to road damage.

When you report a new road defect to us, we will prioritise and attend to it as soon as we can, but please understand that it’s not always possible to repair potholes and hazards immediately.

Council regularly inspects its roads and assets, and we schedule repair work to occur as soon as we reasonably can. However, it’s possible that a new road defect has occurred that we don’t yet know about.

Some roads in the Camden LGA are managed by Transport for NSW.  This includes:

• Narellan Road
• Camden Bypass
• Camden Valley Way (from Narellan north eastwards)
• The Northern Road
• Bringelly Road
• Old Hume Highway (from Camden Bypass southwards to Remembrance Driveway)

We will not accept claims for damage that occurred on roads that are managed by Transport for NSW.

We look after many thousands of trees on public land across Camden. We regularly maintain trees to keep them in a safe condition. We also respond to all reports of trees that are unsafe or might become unsafe.

However, we can’t inspect every tree on public land, and trees or branches can fall at any time – even from healthy trees. Weather events like storms or high winds can also cause trees and branches to fall suddenly.

Council is not automatically liable for damage caused by trees or branches that fall unexpectedly or because of weather.

Tree roots entering pipes is not uncommon, this generally only occurs if the pipe is already damaged or breaking down and reaching the end of its useful life. As it is up to property owners to maintain their drainage systems, in many cases Council won’t accept liability when the roots of Council-owned trees enter private drains.

In order to make a successful claim about damage caused by a Council-owned tree, a claimant will need to prove that Council knew there was a problem with the tree and was negligent in dealing with it.

If your claim is about an injury or damage caused by the condition of a footpath on a roadway (such as paver or concrete misalignment) you will need to establish that Council had actual knowledge of the problem and had neglected to fix it.

We conduct regular inspections of the footpath network and are continually assessing the damaged areas and prioritising repair work.

Not all deviations in footpaths require repair. Council has standards for when a repair is required.

When a repair is necessary, factors including how long we could reasonably take to fix a problem are taken into account.

If your claim is related to a utility access point in a footpath or road you will need to contact the relevant utility provider ie: Water, Sewer, Gas, Electricity, Communications etc.

Property owners are responsible for maintaining the drainage system and pipes, including stormwater and sewerage, between your property and the Sydney Water Mains (which will usually be under the middle of the road). This even applies to parts of your system that run under public land. If pipes or drainage systems become blocked due to tree roots or other objects, it will usually be up to the property owner to deal with this. 

For further information on maintenance of drains and pipes please refer to Sydney Water web page.

Section 142 of the Roads Act 1993, states that the owner of the property is required to maintain the driveway in a satisfactory state of repair.

Should your claim relate to an injury on a driveway, Council will generally not accept any liability for any loss or damage.