The State Government today announced that Option A has been selected as the preferred route for the North East Link (NEL).
Manningham Mayor, Cr Andrew Conlon says that Council has a number of concerns with Option A that they will be seeking assurance on. Council has previously resolved not to support Option A.
“It’s important to us that the Manningham community is not disadvantaged by this project.”
“As a Council, we want to see impact to private land and community facilities limited, with those affected fairly compensated.”
“We also want confirmation that the Eastern Freeway will not be a toll road and that its median strip will be preserved for future transport options including Bus Rapid Transport and Doncaster Rail,” he said.
Cr Conlon said that Manningham’s recent household survey showed that opinion was divided on the preferred route. With residents most concerned about the introduction of toll roads, protecting parklands and local amenity as well as impact from traffic and noise pollution.
“These results are not surprising. With three of the four proposed North East Link routes passing through Manningham, this project always had the potential to significantly impact us regardless of the route chosen.”
“Once detailed designs for Option A become available, we will be actively advocating on behalf of our community on the issues they’ve highlighted to us.”
“We will be looking at how to minimise project impacts and if any opportunities exist that could deliver benefits to our residents,” he said.
Manningham will be using their recent household survey to inform their future submissions to the North East Link Authority (NELA) and to advocate on behalf of its residents.
The survey results that will be formally presented to Council at its meeting on 28 November showed that respondents preferred route options are:
Route Option A – 35%
Route Option B – 27%
Route Option C – 27%
Route Option D – 7%
Interestingly there is no apparent correlation on the preferred route and where respondents live within the municipality.
