Liverpool Council has taken its anti Moorebank Intermodal messaging to new heights with the installation of two outdoor advertising signs on the M5 and Hume Highway on Sunday.
The timing of the installations – viewable on the Eastbound M5 Moorebank Overpass and the Hume Highway near Memorial Avenue – coincides with the end of the Intermodal’s exhibition periods as council continues to bring the Moorebank Intermodal Company to account.
Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun said that now the SIMTA Environmental Impact Statement and MIC response to submissions periods are over, the public deserves to know exactly what type of facility tax-payer dollars are being invested in.
“We thought it was time to put our message up in plain writing so the people of Sydney and the Great South West could see it for themselves. 10,000 extra freight trucks a day. A total of 20,000 light and heavy vehicles. This is going to be chaos,” the mayor said.
“Back in May we heard calls from MIC chief executive Ian Hunt to lift the number of container movements in and out of the freight terminal – and now we are hearing there could be an increase to the number of vehicles on our roads and an expansion of the amount of warehousing space,” he said.
Recent projections by the MIC have forecast the potential for a further 250,000 square metres of warehousing, lifting the current numbers from 600,000 square metres to 850,000 square metres.
The increase in warehousing could have the capacity to push light and heavy vehicle movements to well over 22,000 a day.
Cr Mannoun said the community has been duped.
“We are now in the assessment phase of this project and the proponents still cannot provide a clear and concise set of data for the public to consider.
“How on earth was our community ever expected to make a proper evaluation without knowing all of the facts?
“We have gone to great lengths in recent weeks to promote our strong stance against the intermodal and these advertisements are just another example of how serious we are taking this issue.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Who wants to sit in traffic for an extra 40 minutes a day while 10,000 more trucks roar up and down one of Sydney’s main motorways?”[/social_quote]
Cr Mannoun thanked the community for the more than 300 public submissions lodged with the Department of Planning and Environment.
“Our community has spoken loud and clear, they know that this is the wrong location for an intermodal,’’ he said.
“The volume of public submissions lodged now means the SIMTA and MIC proposals will have to go before the Independent Planning and Assessment Commission for determination.
“We urge the PAC to listen to the community and not bring our road network to a grinding halt.”
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What a great idea to put up a billboard message on the M5. I suspiciously wonder why council waited till this late stage of the planning process to put up such a very effective sign. If it were produced earlier then more submissions might have been submitted. Better late than never I guess. Raid Moorebank