CHILDREN'S protest art work has been torn down by WestCONnex contractors at the site of planned drilling for a tunnel the community is vehemently against.
The contractors claimed they were putting up safety signs, however none appeared.
“Some men came the day after the kids put up posters and took it all down for no reason other than they didn’t want anyone to see it,” said Janet Dandy-Ward of WestCONnex Action Group.
“This combined with the spying is a form of intimidation; there are no safety signs.”
A WestCONnex spokeperson confirmed that the action group was being watched and that contractors were ordered to remove the protest posters including “Tracks Not Stacks” and “Our Children don’t like Smoke” in reference to the planned poison stacks.
“I was told by WestCONnex that they allowed us to keep the posters up over night to get pictures for our Facebook page.
“It seems a bit condescending that a shadowy organisation providing no details about its projects freely admits that it is spying on us, and then puts itself in an unelected position of authority to grant permission for limited social activism,” Ms Dandy-Ward said.
“I realise this seems like a game to WestCONnex but these are our homes and health at stake and we can’t allow this tunnel to happen in our street when there are alternatives in industrial areas better suited,” she said.
Dozens of Inner West families converged on the drilling site for the planned WestConnex tunnel at St Peters.
Residents are concerned that we will be impacted in the following ways:
- Air pollution from smoke stacks and on/off ramps
- Constant ground vibrations from living on top of a heavily trafficked tunnel
- Property acquisitions by the government in certain locations
- Infrastructure impact around schools, pre-schools and child-care centres
- Reduced property values
NSW Health has identified health concerns related to similar tunnel construction which are heightened for young children.