Page: 4209
Ms SYLVIA HALE [8.15 p.m.]: The Roads and Traffic Authority [RTA] is in the process of widening, from two lanes to four, the Great Western Highway through the township of Lawson. Under the proposed plan all of the shops that front the highway, except the hotel, will be demolished to make way for a car park and service lane. Residents of Lawson are angry, not only with the RTA, but also with the actions of the Blue Mountains City Council. On 26 September the council announced, with barely a scrap of community consultation, that it had revamped the development plan for Lawson, now known as the revised concept plan. What had been played down as minor and insignificant changes turned out to be the exact opposite. The changes include an increase in the council's budget for the plan from $3 million to approximately $20 million, not including certain key elements of the plan such as the library.
Residents are asking themselves how the council will fund such a massive increase. Will it beg the RTA for what appears to be a shortfall of at least $10 million? Council will also have to fund and build a $2 million building to temporarily house businesses during the construction and transition period. The building will be in front of the community centre and prevent further planned extensions of that centre. Car parking has been totally rearranged to include 97 underground car parking spaces—an enormous number for such a small village. The school currently shares the community hall and has a safe access across unused community land. Council has placed a road and parking spaces between the hall and the school, creating an unnecessary new danger for schoolchildren travelling between the two. Trucks will use the road to use the centre's loading bay. A new road is now placed where the village square was, with no plan to replace it.
The council did not consult with the community of Lawson in preparing this revised plan, and the plans are not supported by the people of Lawson. They reflect the arrogance of the Government, the RTA and the Blue Mountains City Council and should be reviewed. There are alternatives to the demolition of the historic buildings and I urge the Government, the RTA and the council to withdraw the current plans and seriously examine those alternatives. Last night I read into Hansard some of the letters that members of the Balmain community had written protesting at the closure of Rozelle Hospital.
[Time for debate expired.]
Motion agreed to.
The House adjourned at 8.17 p.m. until Tuesday 21 November 2006 at 2.30 p.m.
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