KEY POINTS & DOCS | elthamroundabout

KEY POINTS & DOCUMENTS

KEY POINTS - QUICK VIEW

PLEASE CLICK HERE FOR DETAILED DOCUMENTS

Demand rigorous investigations
into all aspects of this project, including:

Safety of proposed MRPV design, what studies have been undertaken, and who remains accountable if there is an increase in accidents?
Traffic forecasting for this project appears to be flawed, raising questions about the business case for the project. Forecasts that are consistent with the North East Link must be used.
Governance and transparency, including why most documents and related information are withheld from the public, and requests for such information are being impeded.
Environmental Management Strategy and relevant EPBC referrals must be completed satisfactorily and available to the public
Financial management and accountability - why spend this much money on a roundabout when the North-East Link will solve most problems for the foreseeable future?
Community consultation was poorly managed - better efforts are needed now and into the future
Viable alternatives such as those already presented by experienced engineers should be developed using accurate modelling, safety considerations, and sustainability measures.

BACKGROUND
. . . IN BRIEF

In December 2019, Planning Minister Richard Wynne, drew up a document (a Planning Scheme Amendment) that overrides the Nillumbik, Banyule and Manningham Planning Schemes to fast-track the Fitzsimons Lane ‘upgrade’.

This is a relatively common practice, particularly on large projects. The Minister’s intervention takes the project out of the local Councils’ control, and gives exemptions from many usual processes. It also stipulates certain requirements/sets conditions like the preparation of an Environmental Management Strategy, an urban design and landscape strategy, in consultation with all three Councils.
[click here to read the document]

Some Nillumbik Council Officers have seen some MRPV documents, but MRPV has asked them not to share these documents with the community/publicly. Nillumbik Councillors have very recently said they have not sighted these documents.

Countless members of the public have requested them and eventually resorted to lodging a Freedom of Information request with the Department of Transport.

This Ministerial intervention should not lead to a lack of good governance and transparency, inappropriate design, less than best practice, compromised safety etc.

Councils can still communicate with the State Government and residents about the project, declare their position, inform their community, etc. Nillumbik Council minutes show Council’s objections to the Minister’s intervention and requests for a community reference group to be established.
Neither request was successful.

In light of these analyses and

without evidence or cooperation from MRPV,

questions remain.

Why is public money being spent on this particular design when

all evidence points to it being a deeply flawed solution?

Experienced road, traffic, and safety engineers have outlined their concerns regarding actual need for the new intersection with accurate modelling, the safety of the proposed intersection [and the fact that, worldwide, nations are consistently turning to roundabouts rather than signalled intersections.

MRPV is still finalising the plan - and no landscape plan had been generated as part of the project.

On the day the trees were being cut down, we spoke with several MRPV and BMD [construction company] Managers, and to our dismay we discovered they had no knowledge or information regarding management of the surrounding vegetation, including the large old tree full of hollows where numerous animals live.

They had not spoken with anyone at Council regarding the critically endangered Eltham Copper Butterfly, nor the Sweet Bursaria species it depends on and kangaroo grasses that grow in the area to be excavated for the four additional lanes.

Flawed statistics, including why significant drops in traffic through the roundabout as a result of the NE link were not considered in the calculations, and why three times the projected rate of growth was applied for this project.