Wyndham residents have taken their council to task for approving new estates without adequate roads and transport in place.
About 70 residents sat through a two-hour roads forum held at the Wyndham civic centre last Wednesday when representatives of Wyndham council, VicRoads and the RACV outlined Wyndham’s transport problems and what was needed to fix them.
The forum heated up during the question and answer session when residents questioned council approval of new estates and thousands of new homes that feed onto Wyndham’s already overflowing roads.
One Point Cook resident pointed out that despite Point Cook Road being in dire need of duplication, more estates leading on to it were getting the green light.
Wyndham council advocacy director Bill Forrest said the council did not have the power to determine whether areas were set aside for development.
“It’s the state government that does that,” Mr Forrest said. “What the council is trying to do is … highlight the need for the timely provision of infrastructure.”
Wyndham strategic transport and growth infrastructure manager John Storrie said developers were already required to make contributions towards road funding, but that was not enough to pay for all the works needed.
Another resident asked why the council and VicRoads didn’t construct roads in the first instance with future population growth in mind.
“Why don’t you just build the road once, and build it properly, for future expansion?” the resident asked. “Surely it’s got to be cheaper to build it once rather than digging into it again and again.”
David Teague, of VicRoads, said that despite forward planning, VicRoads and councils could only build with the funding they were given.
Funding shortfall
According to Wyndham councillor and transport portfolio-holder Glenn Goodfellow, the council has a $1.3 billion roads infrastructure shortfall.
Cr Goodfellow said the council had been working hard to lobby the state and federal governments for transport funding.
He called on residents to get behind Wyndham’s transport advocacy campaign, Get Wyndham Moving.
