By Andrew Herington As the LMA case wraps up, it is fair to say the experts they called to argue the case for the East West Link were underwhelming. This reflects the small pool of specialised knowledge in Australia – and the choices made by the proponent and consultants to defend the project and the […]
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Sadly, trees still don’t have standing
By Andrew Herington As a death sentence it lacked eloquence: “there is no tick in the tree control box in the Heritage Overlay”. But to the LMA these words give it a licence to clear whichever parts of Royal Park they want without the need for a permit. Day six at the public hearings was […]
Week one top ten – East West Link hearings
Is the CIS standing up to scrutiny? Five barristers and five expert witnesses later and the jury of public opinion is unimpressed. After just five days out of thirty, here are the top ten points to note: 1. The East West Link tunnel will not deliver commuters better travel conditions during peak hours. The benefits […]
Preview of Week 2
After a hard grind through the first week, the community groups are keeping the pressure on to convince the Assessment Committee of the many flaws in the East west Link proposal. This week will see three more days of cross examination of Linking Melbourne Authority expert witnesses. The timetable has tended to move around a […]
TRIUMPH OF THE CITY?
By Andrew Herington In its opening submission the LMA made great play of a book by American writer Edward Glaeser called Triumph of the City. It was also the main reference used by their Expert Witness on economics, Marianne Stoettrup, who argued the East West toll road will be “city shaping”. The book tries to […]
Traffic projections: What do all the numbers mean?
At the East West Link public hearings this week there were countless numbers thrown around, with claim and counter claim about what they mean. Transport Minister, Terry Mulder sounded justifiably peeved when he said,”it seems the commentary on this project is that either no one will use it or too many vehicles will use it”. […]
Day 4: SLOW PROGRESS ON THE ROAD TO FACTS
By Andrew Herington Debate crawled along today like traffic in the Burnley tunnel. Mr Pelosi was grilled for the whole morning, but there was no illumination as to why he had supported everything in the CIS. He assured us that he could find nothing in the 1,030 submissions he read that convinced him of fault […]
Day 3: TRAFFIC CONGESTION IN THE BRAIN
By Andrew Herington with Rose Iser New documents started flying thick and fast along with a stream of seemingly conflicting traffic numbers and technical discussion about exactly what inner Melbourne would be like in 2031. A strong crowd of community representatives settled in for day three to listen to a long day of mind-numbing statistics. […]
Day 2: The LMA enjoys its time in the sun
By Andrew Herington Today was the day when the Linking Melbourne Authority could present its case uninterrupted. Taking it in turns, three barristers read a massive 76 page submission, occasionally adding asides that underlined their core message. They argued this is a narrow inquiry, tightly constrained by the terms of reference. According to the LMA, the assessment committee […]
Day 1 – The contest begins with opening statements
by Andrew Herington Today saw the opening of the 30 days of hearings. The Linking Melbourne Authority (LMA) had an hour to present its case followed by responses from the four councils and a strong presentation on behalf of the community groups. A number of procedural issues were resolved but the assessment committee chose to […]
Live Blog starts 3 March
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