RESIDENTS facing the destruction of their communities for WestCONnex’s New M5 tunnel are bracing themselves for more appalling treatment at the hands of the WestCONnex Delivery Authority (WDA) at its ‘community information sessions’ in Kingsgrove this Thursday.

“We’ve spent the last nine months asking for basic and inexpensive changes to be made to WestCONnex to try and make the huge increases in noise, air pollution and traffic congestion it will bring to our community slightly more bearable,” said Kathryn Calman of WestCONnex Action Group in Beverly Hills-Kingsgrove.

“Yet instead of genuinely consulting with our community, the WDA has treated us with contempt.

“What’s more, the WDA has done everything it can to keep the veil of secrecy firmly drawn over WestCONnex – including its attempt to paint the Kingsgrove portal and poison stack location as an ‘industrial area’, when in reality it’s part of a thriving community full of homes, workplaces, schools, childcare and residential aged care centres, and junior sporting fields.

“These latest ‘community information sessions’ are simply the WDA’s latest attempt to keep up the pretence of being open and transparent, when in reality it’s doing everything it can to hide the true nature of WestCONnex from the public.

“These sessions are being held during the afternoon and early evening on a Thursday when most people will be at work. Many local residents haven’t received any notice of them from the WDA.

“It’s also a disgrace that they’re being held at an RSL club, where residents must presentID and be comfortable in a venue that allows drinking and gambling before they’re allowed to ask questions.

“It’s the same contemptuous approach the WDA has taken to ‘consultation’ across the 33km WestCONnex corridor, and there’s no way it should satisfy the Director-General’s requirements for genuine community consultation within the environmental impact statement (EIS) process.

“We demand our right to transparency and accountability from the Baird Government before they sentence our communities to permanent gridlock and pollution – and waste billions of taxpayer dollars on this sham toll road.”

Residents in south-west Sydney are encouraged to attend these sessions, make sure the WDA records their strong opposition to the project, and keep demanding answers to questions if they’re not answered.

What: WestCONnex community information sessions, Thu 16 July 2-4pm,5-7pm, Kingsgrove RSL

Media Contacts: Pauline Lockie 0414 470 106, Kathryn Calman 0421 181 057