Minister Wingard has listened to the Forestville Community. As a result, he has put the Mike Turtur Bikeway Overpass on hold.
Putting the Mike Turtur Bikeway Overpass on hold will permit a review of the project. It will also permit a wider and more consultative consultation. One, therefore, that includes the local residents.
This was the news that greeted a passionate crowd of some 150 to 200 people that attended a public meeting at Forestville Reserve. A group of people who are passionate about their local park also heard from candidates for the seats of Badcoe & Unley. The candidates all confirmed that they agree with putting the project on hold. They all want the project reviewed and a new more comprehensive consultation.
In my opinion, whoever forms Government will abide by the pledge.
DIT putting the project on hold means they can withdraw their current application with SCAP. It means Council’s legislative requirement to consider a licence to construct on our land also be put on hold. There is no point in Council completing that process unless there is a known and approved project to prompt consideration.
As discussed in my previous blogs, the Department putting the project on hold would not have been needed had they consulted better. with the community.
They do not have a good track record with consultation on projects within the City of Unley. Regular readers of this blog site would be aware of that.
The exception, that said (as I have written before), is the North-South Corridor project.
I trust that all said, that the Department will include the community in on its research into other options. Options previously considered and new options that become apparent as a result of the consultation.
Our community is an educated community. They will respond better to the Department’s preferred option if included in the analysis of other options. To the point hopefully of agreeing on what ultimately will prove to be “the” option.
Great outcome! I hope this is marked down for any future attempts to make changes to Forestville.That Forestville is not a small backwater community to be ignored. The rate that Housing is being taken up by young professionals who have paid a very high premium price for thier home now in the Million $ mark should now be counted as a strong voice on what happens in thier little patch of UNLEY .We may not have great representaion in Council but we do have a lot of voices wanting to be heard especially when it comes to a few concerns such as safety, roads traffic, schools and greenery as well as amentities and high density living that should be capped for our community now and in the future for our kids and grandkids.
I think the locals should now be working on a submission called: “This is what we would like”. I would guess that they would then appreciate how hard this one is. I for one cannot offer any suggestions, but I may be a bit dim.
Thanks for keeping us up to date. I think you are right when you say this is an educated community but I would also add creative. As you know people want to see something a bit more creative and ecological for the $25 million. Not much to ask.