VPRS 16123 Engineering Project Files

Under the provisions of the Local Government Act, Councils were to manage roads and other such facilities within the municipality and had the power to 'improve and maintain' them (Div 6). Similarly, Councils had the power to regulate subdivisions of land within the municipality with plans having to be referred to the engineer or surveyor to determine whether requirements for the levels and layouts of streets and drainage had been met by the plan.Section 590 of the Act provided that councils could improve footpaths in streets and recover half of the cost of this from property owners with a complete accounting of costs having to be sent to owners.Correspondence in this series was concerned with street construction, the provision of drainage works and roadworks with each project being given a separate file. The files may contain the contract made between Council and the contractor for the carrying out of the work.