hhag newsletter 7
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Public Meeting
4pm Saturday 26th September, Hartley School Hall
Consider future direction for Hartley Highway Action Group, Consider possible re-constitution of committee, Consider future strategy for the valley’s defence, join us for afternoon tea from 3.30
The last week of August saw the Honourable Michael Daley, Minister for Roads in the NSW government, make announcements in Mt Victoria and Lithgow in respect of the Mt Victoria to Lithgow GWH upgrade. The essence of that announcement was that the GWH upgrade should be effected within the orange corridor, explaining that “This option has the least combined impact on the many significant issues identified so far in the (RTA) consultation process including local aboriginal heritage and environment considerations, engineering restraints, economic and social impacts and cost.” This is a decision made by political government but clearly informed by the several million dollars of work that the RTA has already completed investigating constraints within each of the four nominated corridors. What we are seeing is a massive acceleration in the process that the RTA has imposed upon us.
Whilst HHAG has never promoted any particular corridor, the call for ‘existing line’ has been very apparent in the various forums associated with the project. Gerard Martin, when he met with the Hartley Valley community on 18th July, made clear that was his view, also Lithgow council had endorsed that option. In many ways we shouldn’t be surprised by the decision but we do need to now focus on what it means and what we can do to drive the best community outcomes from the planning and implementation of this decision.
The alarming thing about the announcement is that despite trying to reconfirm original promises made in “The Government will honour its commitment to bypass the main village of Mount Victoria, River Lett Hill and the steep grades of Victoria Pass within the orange corridor,” no mention has been made of non indigenous settlement heritage assets within the valley, a subject that had been the subject of earlier assurances.
At the time of the announcement by Minister Daley, HHAG was/(is) still pushing government for a reopening of consideration of the ‘Newnes Option’. Ten days before, we had sent follow up letters seeking responses to our letters of early and mid June seeking this reconsideration and an undertaking on the >19metre B doubles issue from the Minister. I anticipate we will probably receive formal responses offering the announcement that has been made as our answer. We need to consider whether we should wipe the slate clean of this option or continue to push it, recognising that it has a significant cost attached, some vociferous opposition and may never be warranted if use of rail is properly promoted.
Regardless of any consideration of the Newnes option, we now need to quickly focus on the valley. What we now have is a massive acceleration of process. The announcement that was to be made by the RTA in early 2010 has been made, we now need to adopt our defence strategy to deal to this development.
In our last newsletter we outlined the elements of our go forward strategy. We need to adjust and refine that strategy to take account of the new situation. We even need to consider whether HHAG is the right vehicle to carry this agenda forward. In summary that new strategy might be;
- Support for physical improvements at River Lett Hill and Forty Bends, clearly needed for safety.
- Opposition to the reconstruction or bypassing of Victoria Pass and support instead for improvements to gradients and alignment, the conservation of the Mitchell causeway and the implementation of serious new safety measures on the pass.
- Demand for sensitive design and the fullest consultations during any highway upgrade in the valley, and support for all those affected by the upgrade.
- Demand for investment in rail, to provide sustainable integrated freight systems between the Central West, Sydney and the coast.
- Demand for the long term development of road freight routes which avoid Lithgow, the Hartley valley and the Blue Mountains, and which minimise changes in elevation to minimise fuel use.
We do however need to put all these ideas up for grabs and consult closely with those directly affected ie those in the orange corridor. Can HHAG represent you/them or has HHAG passed its ‘use by’ date? Perhaps affected landholders would want to deal directly with the RTA in pushing their desires, equally working through a group can be much more effective. On top of that HHAG has built a significant base of knowledge, resources and allies both to the East and West. I think we can provide good help particularly through the alliances we are still building.
Please join us for a meeting at the Hartley Schoolhouse on Saturday 26th September to consider the future of HHAG, the possible reconstitution of the committee and the consideration of strategy going forward. By way of starting on the latter I’d reconfirm our earlier tentatively stated ‘in valley’ fall back strategy as follows;
- improvement of the grade and alignment of the Victoria Pass
- improvement of the grade and alignment on River Lett Hill
- the reduction of ice hazards under Hassans Walls through the use of road and information technology
- no impairment of the escarpment and valley vistas
- the conservation and interpretation of Mitchell’s Victoria Pass viaduct
- the protection of heritage buildings from vibration and emissions
- the creation of an historic buildings precinct served only by local and tourist traffic
- the retention of excellent visual and vehicular access to the Hartley Historic site.
(Already this needs to be built upon with a pressing need to determine details like heritage property curtilage demands).
Whilst the meeting on 26th September might be of primary interest to people located in the orange corridor we would welcome people from across the valley. We all have an interest in helping to get
this right.
Ramsay Moodie
Chairman 7th September 2009
6355 2259 | 0412 283800 | 9983 0134
