HORSHAM Rural City Council will meet with both the roads and planning minsters ahead of a determination on the proposed Horsham Bypass route.
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Mayor Pam Clarke said council would meet with Roads Minister Luke Donnellan on February 23 and Planning Minister Richard Wynne on February 28.
She said council would discuss its concerns with the planned option D route proposed by VicRoads.
“The fact it was announced when there was no council, between election time, was disappointing,” she said.
Councillor and stakeholder group chairman David Grimble said none of the proposed bypass routes was ideal.
“There’s been no clear option presented thus far that doesn’t have some sort of issue,” he said.
“There’s no doubt in my mind the current proposal conflicts with the aerodrome plan significantly.”
Chief executive Peter Brown said it had been agreed the plan would not be put before the minister until the new councillors had opportunity to reflect on the proposal.
“VicRoads and council had resolved a position in the past that any route needs to take into account housing and the aerodrome, so not to infringe on that,” he said.
“It also needs to consider agriculture and farmland to minimise the impact on farmland and take into consideration floodplains.”
Cr Grimble said the net community benefit of option D had not been demonstrated.
“When the project objective came out for the Horsham Bypass, it was around removing the trucks out of the city, improving safety, improving freight efficiency and linking to freight sites,” he said.
“Because Horsham has a number of highways, a bypass wouldn’t address all the key objectives.
“We need an integrated transport solution.
“Option D doesn’t address transport, freight, trucks and cars from the west and going down south.”
Cr Grimble said council needed to look out for residents’ interests.
“The realignment of the Western Highway didn’t pick up those other factors we need to address from a local standpoint,” he said.
“Horsham has a number of other highways and movements and we need to understand the big picture.
“There’s more work to go with bypass planning and we should take that to the ministers.”
Cr Grimble said there was no funding for the bypass at the current time, with construction unlikely to start for years.
Digital journalists with The Border Mail.
Digital journalists with The Border Mail.
