Council to host WestConnex Public Meeting
Wednesday 20 September 2017
Inner West Council is holding a public meeting at Leichhardt Oval on Wednesday 4 October to inform the community about the Government’s Environment Impact Statement (EIS) for WestConnex Stage 3 M4-M5 Link.
The EIS, currently on exhibition, closes for comment on Monday 16 October.
Council is urging all interested and affected parties to make submissions to the EIS. Council’s own submission is being assisted by planning / engineering firm Beca Australia.
Council’s submission to the Concept Design stage called for fundamental redesigns of WestConnex Stage 3 M4-M5 link that would have improved the project and mitigated impacts on inner west communities, but these were largely ignored. Council will continue to lobby for these changes and will include them once again in the EIS submission.
Council is also seriously concerned about the exhibition process and local impacts, including:
- Poorly-managed ‘truck marshalling’ during the motorway’s soon-to-be-completed Stage 1 construction, which has regularly seen idling trucks ‘stabled’ in nearby Haberfield streets from as early as 6am, causing major headaches for residents
- The Government’s decision to exhibit the Stage 3 M4-M5 Link EIS plans just days after the end of the initial consultation period - which has short-changed the entire inner west community
- The proposed Darley Road Leichhardt mid-tunnel construction dive site, as well as large unfiltered ventilation stacks at Haberfield, Rozelle Rail Yards, Victoria Road and St Peters
- The potential for increased traffic on local streets around the Haberfield, Rozelle and St Peters interchanges
All community concerns raised at the public meeting will be integrated into Council’s submission.
The EIS is available on the websites of the Department of Planning and Environment, and Sydney Motorway Corporation. Council’s submission on the Stage 3 M4-M5 Concept Design and progress reports on Council’s assessment of the EIS are available on Council’s website.
The public meeting on Wednesday 4 October is at Leichhardt Oval’s Centurion Lounge starting with a Council presentation from 6.30pm.
Council experts will also be on hand from 8pm to 8.30pm to answer specific questions from residents.