MOONEE Valley Council says landscaping aimed at screening City Link noise walls in the city was inadequate.

The council's infrastructure planning executive manager Steve Crawley said the poor quality of noise walls being built along City Link demanded adequate landscaping.

Mr Crawley said the council had asked the City Link contractor Transurban and the Melbourne City Link Authority to ensure adequate landscaping was provided at First Ave, Strathmore, the Mt Alexander Rd-Tullamarine Fwy interchange, the Strathmore Tennis Club, Delhi Park and Alf Pearce Reserve.

A Transurban spokesman said the company was committed to ~vorking 'with the council to achieve the best possible outcome for everyone affected by City Link.

Link group wants action

by TOM LAURIE and STEPHEN MARMO

THE newly formed City Link Action Group has accused Moonee Valley Council of taking a "softlysoRly'' approach to residents' concerns about the $1.8 billion City Link project.

During the group's first meeting earlier this month, convenor Paul McKay said the group wanted to ensure Moonee Valley and Moreland councils were serious about getting a better deal for residents affected by City Link.

"I'm reasonably encouraged by the work Moreland is doing, but I'm a little concerned with what Moonee Valley is doing," Mr McKay said.

"Our view is we haven't got a lot in the process. There hasn't been much consultation at all and our group has had enough–we're sick of the councils taking a softly-softly approach and we're going to jump up and down a bit."

The meeting was held at the Moonee Ponds Community Centre on Sunday, July 21.

The group has the same concerns about City Link as the councils, including toll concessions, landscaping quality and noise walls.

Mr McKay told the meeting the group was planning activities to highlight its concerns about the project.

"I don't want to give away all our strategies, but people have put forward a range of options and there are several groups currently planning activities," Mr McKay said.

"We had a banner up on the Albion St bridge which was tab' down in four hours, so we have' strategy to make sure they do''' nick our banner.

"I'd just like to say to residents we can't win everything, but if we jump up and down as a group then are things we can get.

''We are getting treated shoddily, but we won't give up now."

Moonee Valley Mayor Hedley Moffat rejected the claim that the council was taking a soft approach to City Link but said he understood why the group was angry about the project.

Cr Moffat said the council was in constant contact with City Link contractor Transurban and the Melbourne City Link Authority and was determined to achieve the best possible outcome for residents.

Link group to protest at Parliament

by ANDREW BARTRAM

THE City Link Action Group will take its protest against noise walls and tolls on the Tullamarine Freeway to the State Government's doorstep with a rally on the steps of Parliament House at l0am on Sunday.

The rally will involve the construction of a five-metre high replica noise wall with anti-City Link postcards donated by Moreland Council.

Protesters will continue their call for quality noise walls, no tolls on the freeway and the revitalisation of the Moonee Ponds Creek.

Group spokeswoman Maree Roberts said the replica noise wall would show politicians what it would be like to have the walls outside their own homes.

"We have to live in a hideous concrete canyon (and) we need to show them how big these walls are,'' she said.

Meanwhile, Planning and Local Government Minister Robert Maclellan has written to Strathmore resident Peter McKie about noise walls along the Tullamarine Freeway. Mr Maclellan said the Melbourne City Link Authority and Transurban were working with Moonee Valley and Moreland councils to "address local concerns and, in particular, the use of landscaping to screen the walls on the resident side".

"It should be appreciated that mature landscaping will take some time before the walls can be effectively screened,'' he wrote. "The authority is concerned about the final appearance of the noise walls and is urging Transurban to achieve a quality outcome".

The City Link Action Group said the letter is the first admission that the walls have provoked an angry reaction from residents living along the freeway.

Mr McKie, whose home backs on to the freeway, operates 41 customs and freight forwarding company from Essendon Airport. He plans to boycott City Link when it opens next April because of what he says are the high costs of using the toll road.

by TOM LAURIE

THE State Government has refused to intervene in a dispute that could see work cease on the $500 million Western Link project at 5pm tonight.

Last week, Western Link builders Baulderstone Hornibrook set the deadline to stop building unless project contractor Transfield Obayashi paid it $200 million.

In a memo dated July 22, Baulderstone Hornibrook says Transfield has owed the money for more than 12 months and relations between the two companies are so bad, it could lawfully stop work on the project.

"Baulderstone Hornibrook's future involvement in the Western Link is becoming very uncertain, and it is possible that Baulderstone Hornibrook will cease work," the memo states.

The 13km Western Link roadway runs from Bulla Rd to the West (]ate Freeway and represents about half of the $1.8 billion City Link project.

A government spokesman said the dispute was between private companies and there was no need to intervene.

Opposition transport spokesman Peter Batchelor warned hundreds of workers could be sacked and the Western Link project left half finished if work ceased.

"This is the biggest construction project in Victoria and the government cannot simply wash its hands of this dispute,'' he said.

Transurban said it was not confident the situation could be resolved by tonight's deadline.

The company's managing director, Kim Edwards, said if Baulderstone Hornibrook abandoned the project, it would be up to Transfield to complete it on time and within budget.

Mr Edwards said Transfield would face hefty penalties if it failed to meet the December 1999 deadline for completing City Link. He conceded hopes of opening the Western Link by next April could be in jeopardy.

Unions met on Thursday to discuss what impact a shut down would have on the Western Link's 1000 employees.

Victorian Building Industry Group of Unions convener Bnan Boyd threatened to shut down the City Link project if workers were sacked.

Transfield project director Rob Cranston said he hoped commonsense would prevail and the problems would be resolved without legal proceedings.

by STEPHEN MARMO

IT WAS a perfect protest-weather day. The City Link Action Group's protest against noise wall quality and tolls along the Tullamarine Freeway drew almost 40 people to the steps of Parliament House on July 19.

The crowd heard local Labor politicians, action group members and councillors compare the Tullamarine with the Eastern Freeway.

Group spokeswoman Maree Roberts said the protest had succeeded in highlighting the issues to the public.

"It's the first thing we've organised and although we did a significant amount of publicity, we don't have much of a profile yet," Ms Roberts said.

"So the purpose of the action was to really highlight the issue and publicise the fact there are still people out there fighting, and I think we accomplished that reasonably well.

"The other issue is many people have fought this over the previous three years, putting a lot of effort into it and getting nowhere. So what you are facing is a quite demoralised population out there who feel they have been defeated already."

Ms Roberts said the group would circulate petitions and place banners on freeway overpasses in the next stage of the campaign.

The group also planned a protest march along a city-bound lane of the Tullamarine Freeway between Moreland Rd and Brunswick Rd on October 11.

A NUMBER of "hot spots" along the Tullamarine Freeway have been identified by City Link developer Transurban in a bid to address residents' concerns about the visual impact of noise walls.

The hot spots are sites where noise walls are close to houses or parkland or where little or no landscaping was originally proposed.

The list includes areas near Roland Ave in Strathmore, and precincts such as Kitchener St to Moreland Rd in West Brunswick.

Transurban public affairs manager Rudi Michelson said the sites, which could stretch up to 500 metres in length, were identified in response to residents' concerns.

The solutions being considered for hot spots included more landscaping, putting vegetation on walls, removing unnecessary fencing, and installing transparent panels and colored anti-graffiti treatments.

Mr Michelson said Transurban would prepare proposals for noise wall treatments and consult residents living in hot spot areas.

Meanwhile, Moonee Valley councillors and officers will view City Link at close range when they tour the Burnley Tunnel and Yarra Bridge tomorrow.

Sometime this week, the council will also meet representatives from Transurban and the Melbourne City Link Authority as part of a series of meetings on the $500 million Western Link.

Mayor Hedley Moffat said the meetings gave the council a chance to negotiate on traffic management, noise walls and the revegetation of the Moonee Ponds Creek.

RESIDENTS in a Strathmore street are bracing themselves for the erection of five-metre high concrete noise walls along the Tullamarine Freeway as part of the City Link project.

Rosemary Park and Angela Jones say the walls will overshadow their properties. destroy views and devalue their homes.

Their request that the concrete walls be replaced with transparent panels has been rejected by the Melbourne City Link Authority.

Authority spokeswoman Mary Baker said the five-metre walls would give Mrs Jones Mrs Park and other nearby residents a superior level of noise protection''.

Ms Baker said the walls would be concealed by landscaping and would not create overshadowing because they were on the north side of the freeway.

Mrs Jones said when she and her husband. Phillip. moved into the cul de sac they accepted and tolerated noise from the freeway and Essendon Airport but five-metre walls which extended beyond the roof of her house were unacceptable.

We have a view of the tennis courts and I can see my kids at kinder (but soon) we are going to have a view of a concrete wall. It's like being jailed in," she said.

Mrs Park, a resident for 38 years, said she would prefer noise from freeway traffic instead of the walls which would be five metres from her home.

The women and other nearby residents have enlisted the support of Pascoe Vale Labor MP Christine Campbell.

''I have been approached by several of the residents of both Lind St and Vernon St in regard to their anger over the installation of the noise walls which will imprison them visually and physically,'' she said.

Ms Campbell is waiting for a reply to a Freedom of Information request she lodged in relation to the authority's community consultation process.

by TOM LAURIE

CITY Link developer Transurban has agreed to improve landscaping and some noise wall designs along the Tullamarine Freeway, says Moonee Valley Council.

Mayor Hedley Moffat last week said Moonee Valley and Moreland councils had been asking for the improvements for months.

"Although a number of issues remain in contention, council is very pleased with Transurban's active resolution of our concerns on these matters," Cr Moffat said.

He said pilot landscaping projects would be done near First Ave, Strathmore, to determine the best way to shield views of the noise walls in other areas near the freeway.

"Moonee Valley is negotiating landscaping improvements at other locations along City Link with detailed plans currently being drawn up by Transurban in collaboration with the council," he said.

Cr Moffat said the council had also drawn up plans for landscaping at the northern and southern entrances to Moonee Valley, which were being considered by Transurban and the Melbourne City Link Authority. He said the council had long argued against the use of the "unsightly" concrete noise walls along the Tullamarine Freeway.

"Recent negotiations have resulted in a recognition of the need for improved noise walls in a number of high profle locations, including Alf Pearce Reserve, Strathmore Tennis Club and Delhi Park.

"Different design proposals are being considered which will reduce the visual intrusion of the noise walls." Transurban had not returned calls at press time.

DESPERATE residents could try using their council and a little recognised law to cut out chronic traffic noise, according to an environmental law expert.

Melbourne University lecturer Murray Raff said a nuisance provision in the Health Act could potentially force modifications to projects the size of City Link. Under the Act, a nuisance is broadly defined as anything offensive to human senses, such as loud music, clogged stormwater drains and smoke.

Mr Raff said overseas studies found excessive traffic noise was a major contributor to stress, blood pressure, hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

But many felt powerless to act, despite court precedents elsewhere that ruled only a low nuisance threshold was required to force noise reductions. Mr Raff was unaware of any test case in Victoria.

''The court can order an abatement of the nuisance and fine the offender if the abatement order is not carried out,'' Mr Raff told a radio station.

Local Government Professionals statutory services convener Russell McMurray said councils could prosecute any nuisance that affected public health or safety. If the council refused to act, residents were empowered to pursue prosecutions themselves, he said.

The Environment Protection Authority can launch prosecutions under the Environment Act.

Environment Defenders Office principal solicitor Robin Dyall said trying a Health Act prosecution might work in certain circumstances.

KENSINGTON residents will use a protest rally on Sunday to demand City Link developer Transurban builds adequate noise walls between Racecourse Rd and Arden St.

Kensington Association chairman David Ettershank last week said residents never exposed to freeway noise would face sleepless nights unless adequate noise walls were built along City Link's elevated freeway.

Mr Ettershank said an independent report commissioned jointly by the association and Transurban says traffic noise from City Link would disturb sleeping residents between midnight and 6am.

But he said Transurban was ignoring the finding because it was legally required to limit noise only between 6am and midnight.

"Sound control walls in Kensington will be no higher than 1.5 metres, and in many areas less than that," Mr Ettershank said.

"In reality, the so-called noise walls are only what Transurban would have to build to stop people crashing off the elevated tollway."

A Transurban spokeswoman confirmed the report's findings but stressed the company was meeting noise level requirements set down by the State Government.

She added the likelihood of residents being woken by City Link noise late at night was remote.

"In fact, there are multiple sources in a residential area which can cause disturbance," the spokeswoman said.

"This may include a truck backing up car doors slamming, a dog barking etc. It is difficult to separate freeway noises from other contributing factors in Kensington such as Macaulay Rd and Racecourse Rd traffic, trains travelling on the two lines running through the area and local industry.''

Sunday's rally will be staged at noon at Bellair St Park, at the corner of Macaulay Rd and Bellair St, Kensington.

For details phone Mr Ettershank on 0418 51 9892.

"It is typical of their attitude to people in this area that there has been no consultation at any point during the construction of Western Link"

-Ray Bennett (Resident) quoted in Moonee Valley Gazette report "Height of anger", March 15, 1999.

Link's glaring problem

by ANDREW BARTRAM

IT’S there to limit traffic noise from the six-lane elevated roadway, but the Western Link's 300-metre sound tube is worrying some Racecourse Rd housing estate residents for another reason.

Since Transurban started testing external lights on the tunnel at night, some residents have visited he Flemington tenants union office to complain about living in 24-hour daylight.

This came after talk in the Flemington-Kensington News that reflected light from the tube was driving up temperatures in some flats by as much as five degrees.

Victorian Tenants Union spokeswoman Kate Wait said the union was well aware of the sound tube's proximity to two of the estate's towers and would monitor the situation "with respect to noise and any issues of concern to the affected tenants''.

A Transurban spokesman said a final decision on how often the tube would be lit had not been made. He said residents' opinions and the sound tube's significance to the project would be considered.

by TOM LAURIE

STRATHMORE residents want Moonee Valley Council to reduce rates to offset any drop in property values due to CityLink noise walls.

Roland Ave's John Odgers last week said there was no doubt noise walls built along the Tullamarine Freeway as part of the $1.8 billion CityLink project were forcing down property values.

Expressway developer Transurban was not legally required to compensate residents, who had been left with little choice but to seek a rate reduction, Mr Odgers said.

Carnarvon Rd resident Peter McKie agreed, saying a four-metre high, green concrete wall blocked his view of Essendon Airport.

Last October he sought a rate reduction but said council officers wrote back saying they were "not sure how to handle the situation and would have to wait to see if property values fell before they could consider lowering rates''.

Mr McKie said the walls had not reduced freeway noise and he believed in some cases the noise was being amplified by the concrete.

Residents on the Moreland Council side of the freeway also want rate reductions.

Moreland Mayor Andrew Rowe told the Moreland Courier house values near the new noise walls could have fallen and this would be taken into account when the council revalued all properties.

Moonee Valley Council chief executive officer Lindsay Merritt said property values and rates would not automatically fall simply because a house was near a noise wall.

"There are a wide variety of factors which can affect any fluctuations in property valuations and there is a process in which this can be resolved through ratepayers exercising their right of appeal," Mr Merritt said.