Bellarine Ti Times mes
Tuesday 30 August 2011
VOL 4. No 35
www.bellarinetimes.com.au
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Clifton Springs residents Liz and Gary Dean standing on Bayshore Avenue with the proposed site of the new bridge and housing estate in the background.
BRIDGE THREAT BY DAVID FINLAYSON
A HEAVY-LOAD bridge linking a planned new housing estate threatens the quiet suburban streets of Clifton Springs according to local residents. The bridge would extend the narrow end of Bayshore Avenue over Griggs Creek, providing the only road link to the new housing estate for some years. All earthmoving, industrial, building and ultimately residential traffic to-and-from the northern end of the new estate will have no choice but to use Bayshore Avenue and adjoining Clifton Spring streets. Residents say the council expects up to 3000 vehicles a day could use the bridge. A major north-south road linking the proposed estate to Portarlington Road will not be built for
Su rf Forecast
at least four years to alleviate traffic pressure on Bayshore Avenue. A petition of 864 residents was presented to the minister for planning Matthew Guy last June. A number of residents fighting the City of Greater Geelong council to stop the bridge will put their case to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) in October. Residents’ spokesman Gary Dean said the council kept changing its position. “The council told us in writing in 2008 that Bayshore Avenue was not designed to be anything other than a local road and the addition of hundreds of extra vehicles a day would create unacceptable impacts,” Mr Dean said. “They said heavy construction traffic would not be permitted and alternative access would be arranged for the first stage of the new estate.
“But now there will be no alternate access for years, and they say they will discourage traffic volumes on the bridge. “How can they when it will be the only access to the north of the estate?” He said the council had approved the development of the estate without having adequate access plans. “We would welcome the opportunity to have an honest and meaningful discussion with council and developers,” Mr Dean said. Local ward councillor Rod Macdonald said council had explained the situation to residents but misconceptions still existed. “The claim about the number of vehicles using the road is highly exaggerated. We don’t expect that many vehicles to be using the bridge; that’s purely the standard local roads have been built to,” Cr Macdonald said.
He said the north-south collector road would be built when property take-up on the new estate dictated, probably within four years. “As houses appear, so will the roads. Wyndham Street will also connect to the estate.” The residents say Wyndham Street is well south of Brayshore Avenue and could not service the proposed northern section of the estate, to be developed years before the north-south connector road is built. “The matter is now before VCAT and that’s the correct place for it to be heard,” Cr Macdonald said. The Drysdale and Clifton Springs Community Association supports the local residents. Association secretary Patrick Hughes said the bridge would “take a heavy toll on their way of life, on their safety and security and on their fragile environment and cultural heritage”.
WED 2-3ft+ Dropping W 18º THU 1-3ft Poor S 16º FRI 1-3ft Peaky NE 21º SAT 1-2ft Easing N 22º
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