Page 3057 - Week 10 - Wednesday, 14 August 2013
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have been in this place. There have been in the past serious issues of speeding in this area. But I want to share with members the thoughts of one of my constituents who wrote to the Chief Minister and copied it to members recently:
As the leader of a Minority Government, is it now your Government's policy that minority views take precedence over majority views?
If that is not the case, then why is your Minister Rattenbury, in conjunction with Roads ACT, implementing just such a policy in relation to Spofforth Street in Holt?
The issue I am referring to is the imposition of so-called "traffic calming measures" being forced on Holt residents, despite 60% of respondents to a Roads ACT survey emphatically rejecting what is now proposed and also rejecting what has already been imposed. These 60% have been totally ignored because their responses were, according to Roads ACT and endorsed by Minister Rattenbury, not related to the options contained in the survey!!!
How arrogant!
How contemptuous!
This was not an exercise in seeking the residents' views - it was just another exercise in further trying to justify Roads ACT's "bad planning" on this issue. Not only that, the "bad planning" started as a result of just 4 complaints about traffic issues over a period of 2 years and 8 months!
And my constituent goes on to urgently enjoin the Chief Minister to redress the issue and to intervene to deal with this issue. My constituent believes Minister Rattenbury is not taking into account the wishes of the people of Holt. My constituent said:
The Holt residents need the Chief Minister to take action. The integrity of the public consultation process needs such action to take place, and the concept of democracy needs such action to take place.
That is the sort of feedback Mr Coe and I get on a regular basis about this particularly sad story in relation to this piece of road which is emblematic of many of the problems that we experience with Roads ACT and their timing and implementation of roadworks.
In concluding, I want to reinforce the general thrust of Mr Coe’s motion about poor coordination. For instance, people were trying to drive from Belconnen to Woden or vice versa—mainly Belconnen to Woden—when Parkes Way was being worked on, when Coppins Crossing Road was being worked on and when Belconnen Way was being worked on. Wherever you turned—it is now alleviated a little—for months on end there was constant congestion that made it very difficult for people to traverse town in a timely fashion and make their appointments, get to work on time and get to school on time.
I commend Mr Coe for his diligence in this matter, and I particularly commend Mr Coe for the work he has done in relation to Spofforth Street.
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