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PEOPLE SAY >> MORELAND CITY COUNCIL
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In a phone interview I conducted with Cr Robert Larocca, Mayor of the City of Moreland, I was told that the Council had no control over the development of City Link. He said that the project was audited by the State Government, and all the land required for it had been acquired and handed over to Transurban for 34 years. Cr Larocca said the council has been concerned with the aesthetic appearance of the noise barriers since 1995, when early in construction they were worried they wouldnít look very good. He said the council was still pushing to get the walls improved by having more transparent sections included. Cr Larocca said that the appearance of the noise barriers are disappointing, especially when compared to walls on the Eastern Freeway which have been well designed and landscaped and have won architectural awards. The council was also concerned with landscaping at the rear of the noise barriers. Cr Larocca said not much had been carried out, and the little that had been done wasnít very good. There was a general feeling that Transurban have done a pretty ìcrappy jobî, he claimed. When asked wether he thought there had been enough consultation with the council about the project Cr Larocca said that he was sure Transurban thought they had done plenty of consultation. He said the problem really was that a public road had been made into a private road. Although the council have regular meetings with the developers, the underlying problem will always be the Kennett Government and what they have done. Transurban are bound to the contract they made with the Government, he said. The council believe not enough genuine consultation was carried out with residents. Cr Larocca said the they was still receiving complaints about the quality of work carried out. Residents have been denied access to views they once had by the noise barriers, and are claiming that their property values have been affected in a negative way, he told me. |
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Cr Larocca felt that Transurban had not addressed all issues relating to the redevelopment of the Moonee Ponds Creek. However he urged that studies were still being carried out. He said some good work has been carried out and but that resident groups have been behind a lot of it. Thereís still a lot to be done, and itís quite difficult he said.
Residents have reported a decrease in noise, Cr Larocca told me. But the barriers are big, and these people were living next to a freeway before City Link came along, he said.
