MEDIA STATEMENT
The Roundabout to Nowhere
-
Member for Western Victoria Region, Bev McArthur used an adjournment debate in parliament this week to raise concern over Regional Roads Victoria’s plans for the construction of a roundabout at the Great Ocean Road and Nelson Street intersection in Apollo Bay.
The proposal will cost $3.5m and the Apollo Bay community will lose 22 metres of their precious foreshore. Regional Roads Victoria claims to have consulted the Apollo Bay Community, but only held an ‘information session’ at the RSL with a dozen or so residents. After further pressure, they held two more sessions which provided limited opportunity to comment on the Regional Roads options and Regional Roads were certainly not interested in alternative suggestions that would improve the traffic flow without resorting to wholesale destruction of an iconic and historic part of Apollo Bay.
Bev McArthur said “Regional Roads Victoria is the responsible authority and they failed to properly consult the Apollo Bay community about this proposed roundabout with most locals barely knowing anything about it until it appeared in the media.”
Bev McArthur said “their failure to engage the community in this significant change has been breathtaking. They claimed a 70% community approval rating. However, they refuse to disclose data to justify this statistic.”
Bev McArthur said “this proposal, involving the relocation of a famous war memorial plus the elimination of precious car parking space is overkill in the extreme.”
Locals in this Great Ocean Road area know there are far better places to spend $3.4m; coastal road erosion and dangerous intersections being but two.
Mrs McArthur asked the Minister to ensure Regional Roads Victoria release the community consultation data that supposedly reveals the 70% support for this project; outline what the government is doing to ensure the Great Ocean Road is kept functional; and inform the Apollo Bay community of the crash data for this intersection that justifies a $3.5m taxpayer funded spend.
6 June 2019