LETTER TO MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT
The Association have sent the following letter to the NSW Minister for Transport.
Residents are encouraged to also write to the Minister, either in your own words or using the template below.
If you do choose to email the Minister, the direct email address for the ministerial office is office@constance.minister.nsw.gov.au and could you also please bcc: minister@haberfield.asn.au
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The Haberfield Association
PO Box 121
Haberfield NSW, 2045
6th May, 2020
The Hon Andrew Constance
Minister for Transport and Roads
GPO Box 5341. Sydney 2001
Dear Mr Constance,
Re: Proposed Traffic Changes in Haberfield, Ashfield and Leichhardt
I write on behalf of the Haberfield Association. I refer to the April, 2020 Community Update Circular from the NSW Government announcing so-called improvements to the road network in Haberfield, Ashfield and Leichhardt. The proposed changes are allegedly aimed to relieve congestion around some key intersections and improve traffic flow as well as making travel and movement around our suburbs easier and safer for motorists, cyclists and pedestrians.
As longtime residents of Haberfield and Ashfield, we object to the NSW Government launching these proposals on a locked down community. We have endured disruption and destruction in our area for over four years with the Westconnex tunnel construction. This tunnel was touted as the saviour of our local streets. It has saved nothing. The work for future stages of the tunnel continues unabated. It has just moved to some new locations.
Now, sections of completed works around the tunnel portals are to be destroyed at further taxpayer expense to create the nirvana of uncongested local roads!
We do not support these supposed “road improvements” because they simply redistribute congestion and further disadvantage residents of the Inner West. They will restrict access to Haberfield by residents and visitors along certain routes.
The Haberfield Shopping Village precinct will be further damaged by increased traffic delays. Congestion around Haberfield Public School will be further exacerbated and this will have profound adverse effects on residents in surrounding streets. These are but some of the negative impacts.
We believe that the proposals are premature, ill-advised and based on traffic data which has been gathered, we surmise, over too short a time frame since the opening of multi-billion dollar, Stage One of the Westconnex tunnel.
These proposals have been foisted on the community without the release of any vehicle traffic data or traffic modelling.
- We ask for transparency and the release of the evidentiary basis for these proposals and all other possible options considered.
- We call for a suspension of all project planning until there is an agreed period of community discussion and consultation on all possible options with all traffic models and the data used to create them available to the entire community affected.
- We ask that the time for consultation on the current proposals be extended until the end of June, 2020.
We do not support these proposals. We object to their being launched in this COVID restricted period. We protest the process and the timeframes for consultation.
Yours sincerely
Jozefa Sobski AM
Vice President,
Haberfield Association
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Template:
LETTER OF PROTEST TO THE MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT & ROADS
The Hon Andrew Constance
Minister for Transport and Roads
GPO Box 5341. Sydney 2001
Dear Minister Constance,
I am a resident of …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I oppose the proposed traffic changes for Haberfield, Ashfield and Leichhardt announced in the NSW Government Community Update Circular in April, 2020.
I do not believe these changes will improve the congestion on the road network in our area.
As NSW taxpayers, we have paid billions for the Westconnex tunnel only to see Transport for NSW embarking on more destruction in our suburbs without any proper consultation on options or other solutions.
The traffic congestion in our suburbs will not be relieved. It will be redistributed. The tunnel has solved nothing partly because it is a toll road which few drivers can afford on a daily basis.
We want all the information about the reasons for these traffic changes and proper community consultation on their negative impacts.
Stop this project! Release all traffic data! Listen to the community!
Don’t lock us out during the lockdown!
Signed
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