The legislation that applies to our responsibility for injury or damage resulting from the use of local roads, including footpaths within the road reserve, is the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) (the Act). There are several principles in the Act that determine whether a Council would be liable for compensation, including that we must have known about the risk and failed to act within our available resources to fix it.
We are responsible for mowing and maintaining grounds such as walkways, parks, playgrounds, and sporting fields.
In some cases, accidents may occur where an object is thrown up from a mower or brushcutter and causes damage or injury. In these cases, you will need to prove that the damage was caused by a City of Newcastle team member or equipment. There are times when other companies, strata complexes or other organisations organise mowing and brushcutting works, in which case the claim should be submitted to the organisation responsible.
We look after over 70,000 trees on public streets, and hundreds of thousands within the Local Government Area. For information regarding our responsibilities relating to tree maintenance visit our Trees page online.
If we had no knowledge of a tree causing damage, we will not accept liability. You must show that we are legally responsible for any loss, damage or injury suffered.
Tree shedding and weather events are natural occurrences, and we will unlikely accept liability for claims relating to these. You might be able to claim through your own insurance for these events.
Depending on the circumstances of your claim, we may need more information, or there may be further action you will need to take afterwards. We will contact you if this is the case.
We provide a range of waste management services, including general waste collection (red lid bins), green waste collection (green lid bins) and bulk waste collections.
Newcastle household recycling services (yellow lid bins) are managed by SOLO Resource Recovery and transported to a separate facility for processing. If you have experienced loss, damage or injury due to a SOLO Resource Recovery vehicle, contact SOLO Resource Recovery directly on 02 4947 8511 between 8.30am and 5.00pm weekdays.
The legislation that applies to our responsibility for damage caused by waste collection vehicles is the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW) and Road Rules 2014 – NSW Legislation.