SWAN Hill Rural City Councillors will tomorrow make a
long-awaited decision on the controversial 9a bridge route.
The proposal put
for tomorrow night’s council meeting, if successful, would see council backflip
on its previous position — supporting a bridge that would cut through Riverside
Park, the swimming pool and courthouse.
Councillor Gary Norton put forward
the motion, and said he expected the majority of councillors would vote for
it.
“We thought the election would give a good indication of what the
community thought,” Cr Norton said.
“I and other councillors think the
community have spoken; they are dead against the 9a option and we should look
toward alternatives,” he said.
Councillors Gary Norton and Les McPhee have
voted against the 9a bridge option in the past, while new councillors Jessie
Kiley and Jim Crowe were elected in September after campaigning for alternatives
to 9a.
Fellow first-time councillor Michael Adamson has previously said he
would follow community sentiment, and acknowledged there had been a strong push
from the community on the bridge issue.
Councillors John Katis and Greg
Cruickshank have most recently voted for the 9a option.
Council threw its
weight behind the 9a option after years of reports, investigations and an
Independent Planning Panel found in favour of the route.
But Cr Norton
criticised the process saying, “I think the community consultation had flaws in
it, possibly, I’m not saying it had.”
“And I don’t think the whole community
were aware it was going to be a lift-span bridge, and going to bring traffic
right into the middle of town,” he told The Guardian.
VicRoads regional
director Mal Kersting said community consultation with key stakeholders and the
local community played a major role throughout the planning investigations
undertaken by VicRoads and the Roads and Maritime Services NSW.
“This
included the formation of a community consultation group and project steering
committee to assist with communication and provide feedback to VicRoads,” he
said.
“The community was also invited to attend public information events,
and encouraged to provide feedback on the findings from various planning
investigation studies.”
For more of this and other stories, see Monday’s edition of The Guardian (10/12/12)
