MAY 31, 2017 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + THE WEST’S BEST PROPERTY GUIDE
Ward classic back in town
(Damjan Janevski)
Historian Leigh Goodall has brought home the last known Ward motorcycle, manufactured in Williamstown 103 years ago. The owner of Williamstown’s Garage Classics museum said many people were unaware there was a thriving motorcycle manufacturing business called Ward Cycles & Motors operating at 53 Ferguson Street from 1912-16. He chanced across the Ward bike with a JAP motor after a friend saw it in a Tasmanian collection. “I flew over to Tasmania and met the owner, the collector, who thought it would be a good idea if it came back to Williamstown to reunite with the town it was born in,” he said. “I haven’t found another one in existence, so I think this is the only one left in the world.” “It runs well,” Mr Goodall said. “They were very primitive in those days – they didn’t have a gear box, they didn’t have a clutch, they didn’t have brakes. So they were fairly dangerous to ride. They were all the rage and people put their money down and they weren’t cheap. “They were 30 pound – I mean, you’d buy a house with probably 40 pound.” Mr Goodall has been lent the motorcyle for a year to display at his museum and other sites, including Williamstown library from June 21 to July 31. Goya Dmytryshchak
Tunnel deadline fury Inner-west residents are outraged they have been given just 30 working days to respond to a 10,000-page environmental effects statement for the West Gate Tunnel project. The EES document for the project – previously known as the Western Distributor – was released on Monday. The project is a proposed five-kilometre tollway that will link the West Gate Freeway at Yarraville with CityLink at Docklands. The $5.5 billion tollway will have at least two city off-ramps, one in the west and one in the north.
The Spotswood South Kingsville Residents Group says the government got the consultation period wrong. In a letter to the government, the group is calling for an extension from 30 to 90 days. “There are fears that the formal submission process and panel hearings will be beyond the expertise and resources of our community, and similarly affected communities along the corridor, or the general public,” the letter states. “We don’t trust that a government can be a partner in the project, a proponent, and simultaneously be the assessor protecting public interest of the project’s merits especially when consultations to date have been so
manifestly inadequate.” The group is also asking for community resources “to ensure they (residents) can participate in the process” and “get appropriate technical advice to represent their interests”. Maribyrnong infrastructure services director Sunil Bhalla said the council had hired specialists in areas including traffic to assist the council in responding to the document. Greens MP Colleen Hartland labelled the response timeframe “disgusting”. “This is 10,000 pages,” she said. “How can the community be expected to respond in 30 days? We had asked the government for an extension, which they have refused.
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“There had been enough consultation about various things, but not about this, the finished product. If they were serious about community consultation they would give at least 60 days.” At a press conference in Yarraville on Monday, Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said there had been years of consultation. “No one would suggest we have hidden this project under a bushel,” Mr Donnellan said. “We have been out there for many years consulting with the community, ensuring we get it right.” The EES can be viewed at westgatetunnelproject.vic.gov.au/ees. It is open for comment until Monday, July 10.
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