The Hazelbrook Association has expressed their “dismay and alarm” at the postponement of work on the Hazelbrook Village masterplan which delays improvements to the town’s “dangerous” carpark.
The group was told this week that because of asbestos clean up costs running into the “five million dollar mark” their $360,000 project would be delayed.
In a letter to the Blue Mountains Council general manager Rosemary Dillon on February 13, the Association’s secretary John Crichton called on the council “to immediately reinstate the funds that were allocated for this critical work”.
“The Hazelbrook Association is dismayed and alarmed at the postponement of work on the Hazelbrook Village Master plan. The work scheduled for this financial year was to carry out much needed and long overdue changes to help resolve the dangerous and life-threatening situation with traffic flow in the village parking area.
The Hazelbrook Association is dismayed and alarmed at the postponement of work on the Hazelbrook Village Master plan.
- John Crichton, Hazelbrook Association
“The Association is extremely concerned that there is a very high risk of another serious accident, which could result in life threatening injury. The numerous daily minor vehicle accidents and near misses in the car park is legendary.”
Mr Crichton added that given “the seriousness of this issue your immediate response is required”.
Cr Chris Van der Kley told the Association in an email: “Council has to find over five million dollars to pay for all the work that WorkSafe has made us do now. This was not the only project that was put on hold, we are going to do a revised budget very shortly and I can assure you that we were trying to get it [the car park] back on as soon as possible”.
Council had adopted the masterplan in 2014 announcing on the Have Your Say council website page that the council resolution was “to provide footpath barriers to prevent cars mounting the footpath accidentally”.
Cr Van der Kley and Cr Romola Hollywood had good news in May last year for Hazelbrook with funding expected in the June budget. They were photographed with residents and members of the Association who had campaigned hard for the changes. The area was set to be transformed into more of a cafe hub and less of a parking nightmare for locals with paving and traffic calming measures to slow down highway traffic.
Cr Hollywood told the Gazette at the time there had been “ so many accidents and near misses” in the village car park. Residents, like Greg Birtles, welcomed the news at the time as “virtually every day there is an incident here”.
Newsagent Suzanne Morrow said one way in, or even angle parking with the expanded footpath, would ensure drivers “wouldn’t be running [a car] straight into the shop”.
“I think we’ve all had dents [in our cars] here over the years,” Cr Van der Kley added.
Council was approached for a comment about other projects that are now also on hold because of the fallout from the asbestos clean-up costs.