No funds for basics in Mountains

Blue Mountains MP, Trish Doyle, today took shadow treasurer Ryan Park on a whistlestop tour of a number of areas of concern.

When they arrived at Blaxland station shortly after 9am, Mr Park could see that the commuter carpark was full.

Locals report the situation at the station has worsened since the timetable was changed. With many trains no longer stopping at Warrimoo, there are more people at Blaxland.

Ms Doyle said the car park was always full and needed urgent upgrading.

Mr Park said the government was raking in millions from a tax on parking spaces but was failing to spend the money improving car parks at stations.

This year the government was expected to raise $106 million from the parking space levy, which applies at several major centres and is allocated for measures that “encourage the use of public transport”. 

But the most recent figures show just $9 million being spent on commuter car parks and interchanges.

“The community expects when a tax is raised to spend on dealing with a problem then the money will be spent,” Mr Park said, not hoarded away.

Mr Park and Ms Doyle then visited the roundabout at Macquarie and Hawkesbury roads in Springwood, which is regularly congested during peak hours.

Former MP Roza Sage announced before the 2015 election that there would be a congestion study done at Springwood and another at Yeaman Bridge, Katoomba.

But Ms Doyle said there was no funding for either study allocated in the recent budget.

“The Liberal National Government made a commitment to conduct these studies more than two years ago. Residents would expect that these should be completed by now yet they haven’t even begun,” she said.

Mr Park said: “We aren’t asking the government to do anything dramatic. We are asking that the record levels of monies they are receiving be spent on these basic services.

“These basic bits of infrastructure are the things the community expects to be prioritised.”