Government cancels bike route consultation forum
Extraordinary. The Andrews government has suddenly scrapped a key community consultation forum on its proposed bike path route from Laburnum to Blackburn station.
The cancellation follows sustained resident criticism of the government’s lack of consultation and unjustified tree clearances at a forum on the Blackburn bike path section earlier this week.
The government’s southern route bike path through Laburnum threatens the loss of 40 additional trees along South Parade, with trees in Elmore Walk and the Laburnum Station parkland also at risk. The route could also see an end to car parking along the northern side of Laburnum Street.
What is happening in Blackburn and Laburnum seems to part of pattern across Melbourne, with huge numbers of trees being cut down for rushed projects without consultation or explanation.
It can be unavoidable at times to remove some trees for important community projects, but instead of consulting, explaining and seeking to minimize tree losses, the government’s policy seems to be “cut down first, sort out the consequences later”.
With next Tuesday’s forum cancelled, residents need to tell the government directly what they think about the government’s handling of the crossing removal and bike path, by emailing Public Transport Minister, Jacinta Allan, at jacinta.allan@parliament.vic.gov.au, Roads Minister, Luke Donnellan, at luke.donnellan@parliament.vic.gov.au and Planning Minister, Richard Wynne, at richard.wynne@parliament.vic.gov.au, and copying me in at robert.clark@parliament.vic.gov.au.
Residents can also register support for the campaign to save Blackburn from this destruction at blackburnsolution@gmail.com. For more about the campaign, see The Blackburn Solution.
For the VicRoads page on the government’s bike path proposal, see http://bit.ly/29He78O.