Liverpool deputy mayor Tony Hadchiti has hit out at the State Government, saying it had shown little regard for the rivers, roads and residents of Sydney’s South West in giving the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal plan concept approval.
Cr Hadchiti also described the proposal as a “gross injustice’’.
And he criticised the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure’s concept approval timing and the lack of detail provided in last week’s decision, first revealed by the South West Voice.
“What a terrible and gross injustice this is for the people of Liverpool and the Great South West,” Cr Hadchiti said.
“The State Government clearly planned to be as secretive as possible by opting to release a one-page media statement in the same week it made a fanfare of its Fit for The Future reform agenda.
“At a time when families are focusing on the goodwill of Christmas and gathering to celebrate with one another – this news is the worst possible present they could have been handed.
“This project and its consequences will reverberate across South West Sydney as people who planned their futures by buying and building properties in Moorebank will be subject to serious traffic, noise and air pollution problems.”
The NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure’s concept approval will have conditions attached, including a 24-hour complaints hotline, limiting traffic movements, construction and operation noise and dust.
But Cr Hadchiti said this does not go far enough.
He said Liverpool Council will make its protest to the Independent Planning and Assessment Commission when it meets next year to make a final decision.
Liverpool Council’s objections included the significant impact an intermodal terminal would have on traffic congestion.
“We believe it will be even worse than predicted in the project’s Environmental Impact Statement,” he said.
“There will also be significant noise and air pollution.’’
Cr Hadchiti said Liverpool Council has publicly denounced this project at Moorebank, and had at one stage offered a suitable alternative at Badgerys Creek – the site of Sydney’s second international airport.
“Locating the intermodal at Badgerys Creek would have freed up undeveloped, prime riverside land worth $482 million that can house up to 40,000 people in 16,500 dwellings near transport and amenities and go to meeting housing targets for Sydney’s rapidly growing population,” Cr Hadchiti said.
“But the State Government persisted with its Moorebank approach even though we know this will create an extra 10,000 trucks a day on the M5 clogging up our region’s roads and wreaking havoc on residents’ way of life.
“Council’s hard work in choosing to make sense of the senseless has now been forgotten and we are left scratching our heads and wondering, why?”
Council will be urging residents to join in its protest when a date for the PAC meetings is finalised.
