The Municipal Association of Victoria has asked all Victorian councils to form regional road groups ahead of the roll-out of heavy vehicle charging and investment (HVCI) project reforms. 

HVCI reforms will work with regional road groups rather than individual councils and may open up a new stream of local road funding. 

At Tuesday night’s council meeting, Cr O’Connor said it would be interesting to see how the groups fared. 

“Hopefully our poor record of state and Commonwealth funding for roads can be improved,” he said. 

Councillors voted unanimously to support the formation of a regional road group, with Cr Neil Trotter saying it was an important way to get the funding required.

“To get funding we need to lobby and the best way to do that is in a group,” he said. “We are already in a good position with the Great South Coast Group and that alliance is only a couple of years old but is already starting to get results and is going from strength to strength.”