Residents of Lydiard Street North opposed to the plan to locate bus stops along their street say they now have 1000 names on a petition opposing the development.
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The plan to install seven extra stops along the street has infuriated residents, who claim that they have had little to no consultation about what is going to occur, and no replies to their queries about how the extra bus services will affect their lives.
Greg Honeyman is one of the residents coordinating the petitions and protests to the state government, the City of Ballarat and Public Transport Victoria.
“Not a single response,” says Mr Honeyman of the governmental and PTV efforts to answer their questions.
Council has denied PTV permission to start work on the nature strips
- Greg Honeyman
“The only person who has been in touch with us is (PTV representative) Caroline Maxwell, whom we spoke to for about 30 minutes. She told us her job was just to collect all the complaints and forward them.”
Mr Honeyman says the Victorian Ombudsman has now opened an inquiry into the matter, and the National Trust has written to Jeroen Weimar, CEO of Public Transport Victoria, expressing significant concerns about the potential heritage impacts of the proposal.
At the City of Ballarat’s last meeting a resolution was passed calling for the funding for the new interchange to be brought forward, and council called on PTV to “work directly with the affected residents to mitigate the impacts of the temporary bus layover proposals.”
Despite a January 29 deadline for the new stops to be installed, no work has begun other than measuring of the street, Mr Honeyman said.
“We’ve been told by a councillor…that council has denied PTV permission to start work on the nature strips,” Mr Honeyman said.
“In the meantime PTV send us letters saying, ‘it’s going to happen and that’s the end of the matter’.”
Mr Honeyman says the PTV cannot confirm that anyone from PTV has been to look at the way traffic flows in Lydiard Street. He says congestion in the street and around the railway will increase. PTV has been contacted for comment.
