Residents in Kingsgrove and Beverly Hills were shattered to learn yesterday that the latest entry/exit portal and unfiltered poison stack for the $15.4 billion WestCONnex toll road will be built right on their doorsteps.
WestCONnexAction Group (WAG) spokesperson and Beverly Hills resident Kathryn Calman slammed the Abbott and Baird Governments’ attempt to paint the announcement as one that minimised the impact on the community.
“The reality is that Kingsgrove and Beverly Hills are home to thousands of families, who will now find themselves choking on the massive increase in traffic pollution and congestion WestCONnex will cause,” said Ms Calman.
“There are also nine schools within a two-kilometre radius of that poison stack, not to mention scores of childcare centres and residential aged care homes.
“Even the industrial area where this will be built is home to many direct factory outlets, small warehouses and thriving businesses. Now the hardworking people who depend on this high-employment area will be forced go to work each day right next to a poison stack.
“Duncan Gay says there will be no changes to air quality next to these stacks. But no environmental impact studies have been conducted, and traffic pollution has been linked to cancers, respiratory diseases and irreversible lung damage in children.
“If WestCONnex goes ahead, Mike Baird will be the Premier whose legacy will be a generation of diseases caused by unfiltered pollution.
“The WestCONnex project must halt now until the full business case is made public and a parliamentary inquiry is held.
“The public is not being served by this project, so questions remain as to who exactly is being served by WestCONnex and what are they getting for it?
“We are not going to be able to afford $20+ tolls every day, so our local roads will become even more congested as people use them as rat runs to skip the tolls.
“We are also facing the destruction of precious trees, green spaces and the Cooks River Scrub bushland, years of construction, and permanent increases in traffic noise, pollution and congestion.
“We must have a parliamentary inquiry into WestCONnex to find out how this $15.4 billion bad idea has been allowed to wreak such havoc on our communities.”
Media contact: Pauline Lockie 0414 470 106, Kathryn Calman 0421 181 057