hhag newsletter 5
Download hhag newsletter 5 as a Word document
Notice of Community Meeting
Hartley School Hall
Saturday 18th July 4 – 5pm
Invitation to the Hartley Community Public Meeting
Gerard Martin MP, Member for Bathurst, has asked to meet the Hartley community to put his position on the Hartley highway issue. This is a great opportunity to speak directly to our elected State Government representative on this matter and to understand how the Government is hearing our message.
Please come, ask questions and share your concerns.
Everyone welcome
Have your views heard at this important meeting
Much has happened since our late April newsletter calling a Public Meeting 2nd May. That meeting attended by some sixty residents passed a number of motions including a call to have the Newnes option re-examined by government and another motion calling for more direct protest action by the group.
Lithgow Protest 3rd May: on the momentum of the previous day’s public meeting some 60 odd protesters turned out to protest the potential damage to our valley and the risks associated with heavy freight vehicles transiting the Blue Mountains GWH to Sydney. This protest received a lot of media coverage in Lithgow and the Central West.
Council Meeting 11th May. HHAG representatives and supporters attended the Lithgow council meeting where a council motion was to be put calling for the reopening of consideration of the Newnes Plateau option. A number of HHAG members put questions to council/mayor calling for the reopening of consideration of the Newnes option, rail over road, safety on the highway and high productivity freight vehicles. The original motion was defeated with a modified motion calling for the Newnes option to be properly considered in the Central West Transport Needs Study and asking the RTA to expedite its decision on a route through the Hartley Valley. On the same night, John James as a committee member of HHAG attended and spoke in support of HHAG objectives at the 11th May Lawson Community Meeting held to inform lower Blue Mountains residents regarding the issue of high productivity road freight vehicles transiting the mountains. One of the interesting features of that meeting was a heavy truck driver speaking from the audience supporting the ‘No B Doubles through the Mountains’ call.
RTA Workshops 16th and 23rd May and 13th June to work on setting routes through corridors proceeded with residents from Mt Victoria and Hartley valley that had volunteered to participate. Whilst we agreed that HHAG would take no specific role in promoting one corridor or another, a number of members of the committee attended the meetings out of interest and to feed back information on what is happening to the committee. The first day’s meetings seemed dominated by a consensus that the highway should generally stick to the current route and a feeling of frustration by all that their involvement in the process was futile. Subsequent workshops involved consideration of various theoretical routes through the valley proposed by the RTA. Subsequent to the third workshop HHAG has written to the RTA protesting several aspects of the workshop program and the pursuit of any new route through the valley.
On 22nd May Centroc Protest: a group of some twenty protesters turned out at the Centroc mayors’ conference at Bathurst in anticipation of Mr Debus’ attendance to deliver his mid term report to the assembled mayors. We were not able to speak to Mr Debus directly however we did achieve useful publicity for the broader cause with coverage by both Win and Prime television. Mt Victoria Public Meeting 27th May was attended by Mr Phil Koperberg . Attendee participation was restricted to Mt Victoria residents and parochial resolutions were passed seeking the by pass of Mt Victoria and resolving their preference for the Purple and Green corridors. We are seeking to promote a broader strategy commitment to the Mt Victoria committee.
To our surprise, a Lithgow Council Meeting 1st June resolution was passed announcing councils support of the orange corridor as the council’s preferred route option.
On 2nd June we wrote to Mr Debus in strong terms seeking his support for the reopening of the Newnes option and decrying a number of assertions he had made to us.
The 6th June presented an unexpected development with the announcement of Mr Debus’ intent to step down from politics at the end of this term (ie that could be later this year). With this seat held with only a 7% margin and that heavily dependent on green preferences, this development can be used to create some real focus on our concerns.
On 7th June, some HHAG members met with other community representatives from across the Blue Mountains and resolved to call a meeting in July to establish an overarching organisation to protest the issue of heavy freight vehicles transiting the Blue Mountains. One anecdote from the 7th June meeting; one of the participants suggested the proposition, that if the highway through Hartley was left as is, with just safety improvements effected, their B double concern would be alleviated. A follow up meeting with a dozen or more Blue Mountains community organisations is planned for 13th July.
On 10th June Community Cabinet Bathurst a HHAG deputation attended the NSW Cabinet forum in Bathurst. We met with Minister Daley to call for proper reconsideration of a Newnes option and a 25/6 metre B double ban in the mountains. Individually or in pairs we subsequently met with ministers Campbell, Keneally, Tebbut and McKay. We also attended the public forum and Dennis Plink questioned the premier on the government’s strategic planning leadership. A chance meeting with local state member Gerard Martin led to the public meeting proposal headlined in this newsletter.
Whilst all this has been happening, we have started a debate on the committee to clarify our strategy going forward in the event we are unsuccessful in having the Newnes option reconsidered. The objective of this exercise is to distil what it is we would seek if asked by government in a very direct fashion “what do we want”. We will publish the substance of these considerations in due course to promote thought and feedback of your views, but please don’t wait for our thoughts to be published; if you have views please let us know by emailing the Secretary of HHAG Lynda Lovegrove or making direct contact with any member of the committee.
Since our 2nd May meeting the committee has met on two occasions. Changes on the committee since that date have included the appointment of Ramsay Moodie as Chairman, after a great first year’s leadership of the committee by David Peters; the appointment of Milton Kingsley as Deputy Chairman and the resignation of Ian Townsend a founding member of the committee. I have written to thank Ian on behalf of the community for his contribution to the work of the committee.
Ramsay Moodie
Chairman 3rd July 2009
63552259 0412 283800 99830134
