Meeting opened
at 7:00 pm
Present: As Per attendance register Apologies: As Per attendance register
Correspondence OUT (June to August):
18/7/18 Emailed opposition to subdivisions letters to Hume Mayor & all councillors individually, planning minister (Richard Wynne), Victorian planning Authority, Ros Spence MP.
26/7/18 Emailed invite to August meeting to Jim Overend (Liberal candidate for yuroke)
26/7/18 Emailed invite to October meeting to Ros Spence MP, (ALP candidate for yuroke)
1/8/18 Emailed Opposition to subdivisions letter to Jim Overend & Craig Ondarchie MP
10/8/18 On behalf of GRA roads subcommittee letters to relevant liberal & ALP ministers, premier, opposition leader, and local MPs seeking a commitment for the duplication of Mickleham & Somerton roads during the next term of parliament
Various emails sent by GRA Roads committee & GRA secondary college committees seeking information
1/8/18 Email Inquiry to Cr Joseph Haweil re Greenvale Shopping centre alterations.
Correspondence IN
19/7/18 Acknowledgment of receipt of correspondence by Hume council & Planning Minister’s office.
27/7/18 Response from Ros Spence MP indicating she is able to attend October meeting.
27/7/18 Response from Jim Overend indicating he will be able to attend August meeting to speak and with Craig Ondarchie MP (Upper house Member).
31/7/18 Letter from Ros Spence re her communication with planning minister re: our opposition to new estates.
21/8/18 Letter from Frank Mcguire MP in response to Roads committee letter, informing us of representations he has made in parliament for widening of part of Somerton Rd.
20/8/18 Response from Cr Haweil with details of planning permit & Map of Greenvale shopping centre extensions.
President’s report:
Apologies from the president. Report to follow at next meeting.
Treasurer’s report:
Apologies from the treasurer. No major expenses were recorded.
Secondary School subcommittee report
The sub-committee is chaired by Mark Busuttil to push for a secondary school in Greenvale.
· A meeting was held with the education minister in May. The minister listened to our of our concerns.
· The vacant site which currently located on the corner of Barrymore Road and Glencairn Drive was discussed. This site is owned by the state government.
· Building a school on this site would be cheaper as we could use the facilities located at the Greenvale recreation centre.
· We currently have 180 members on our FB site.
· Community support is required to see this through as one or two people can’t do this alone.
· More people need to put their hands up and help out if we want a good outcome.
Greenvale Roads Subcommittee report
The
sub-committee is chaired by Tamara Nolan for the duplication of Mickleham and
Somerton RoadsE-petition
· A petition was handed out to people to take home and get signatures. All details MUST be filled in or the petition will be invalid and will be unable to actioned in parliament.
· Any Victorian resident on the electoral role can sign the e-petition. The more the better.
· 200 signatures were recently tabled in parliament by Hon Craig Ondarchie
· The subcommittee would like to see 1000 signatures to make a impact and for the roads minister Luke Donnellan to take notice.
· 700 people have liked the ‘Support duplication of Mickleham and Somerton Roads’ facebook page created by the subcommittee. The page has been quite successful with an estimated reach of 16000 people who have sighted posts on the page.
· The paper petition can be signed multiple times by one person throughout the course of a year as paper petition can be lodged in parliament at different sitting times.
· Jim Overend who was a very proactive independent as is now running as a liberal candidate.
· Jim and Craig have shown their support towards the duplication of Mickleham and Somerton Roads by progressing and promoting the e-petition.
Future road proposals
· Cr Drew Jessop mentioned that Aitken Blvd south extension to the ring road is unlikely due to height differentials in the land topography. Drew stated that Aitken Blvd will more likely be extended to the north towards Donnybrook road.
· Rural HIGAP is on the Hume Council website which is open for comment. The subcommittee will be providing feedback to the council.
· Future road proposals are included in the HIGAP. Extension of Somerton road to west of fwy which is shown to link to the future OMR (Outer Metropolitan Ringroad)
· Page 54 of the HIGAP stated future options was to maintain roads as they can deal with the traffic volume and capacity for the next 10 years??
· Government projection 20% change in actual population in the area.
· Charlie has written to council regarding objection to any future development. Council is very aware of the traffic congestion. We are awaiting a response from Council.
· Blackspot program funding to fix our roads. If we decide to go down this path, this will only be a bandaid fix and this will then delay / disadvantage our request for duplication. We were advised not to use the blackspot funding as our means fix our roads as it will only delay the duplication.
· All residents should send letters to the developers expressing our concerns about the lack of connectivity to shops/doctors as they have not provided sufficient infrastructure; roads, foothpaths, safety barriers, lighting, signage etc.
· We all need to write to Vicroads and lodge complaints about traffic delays. Mention kids getting to school late, getting to work late etc. Accidents.
· Hume Council daily traffic volume count is:
o Mickleham road – 24172
o Somerton Road – 27788
o Cragieburn Road - 29276
· The subcommittee has written 11 pledge letters which were sent out to various political party representatives. Only 2 responses were received.
· The estimated cost to duplicate our 1 km of road according to Hume Council is approximately $10 million per km.
o Mickleham Rd: Somerton to Craigieburn Rd is 5.1km Estimated cost: $50 Million
o Somerton Rd: Roxburgh Park Dr to Mickleham Rd is 3.8km Estimated cost $39 Million.
· Josie Crisara (Principle Aitken College) has continued to support the GRA.
SPECIAL GUEST:
Jim Overend, State Liberal Candidate for Yuroke
·
Jim
has been a resident in Craigieburn for 30 years and has seen many changes. · Jim has been an independent and very vocal resident in getting the government to take notice about the issues of traffic in Craigieburn. His hard work has come to fruitition as the Andrew’s government has allocated funds to the duplication of Craigieburn road.
Hon Craig Ondarchie – Liberal Member Northern
Metropolitan
·
Craig
mentioned that our roads are still small country roads and can’t cope with the
growing population. The traffic is horrendous and impacts families trying to
get their kids to school and to getting to work. He recognised the lack of
facilities including a secondary school in Greenvale.· Yuroke is currently a safe labour seat. 25.3%.
· Craig’s wife has said many times “Fix the bloody roads”, so we need a plan for the future.
· If liberal get elected in November the first plan is to work towards funding Mickleham Rd & Somerton Rd duplication.
· He would like to see change for the better and improve community infrastructure. Maternal child health, kinders, primary schools, secondary schools all in one area. This will have a huge and positive impact on families.
· Craig discussed the ‘Northern Roads Package’ and the proposal to remove 50 major interections to get Victoria moving again.
· We need to make this a marginal seat for anything to happen!
Councillors report
Cr Drew Jessop
spoke to our members.· Capital budget has been set. Capital works. New community house. 2nd oval in rec centre reserve.
· The rates notice were recently sent out. There has been an increase of 2.25%. A recent evaluation was done on the properties. If you object to the valuation given you can call the council offices.
· If you are unable to pay due to financial stress the council won’t chase you. You do need to let the council know and it will go as an outstanding debt on your property. When the house is sold in how ever many years the outstanding debt will be recovered by the council then.
· Charlie asked which suburbs the rates dropped. Drew will follow up and email to Charlie.
· Question was raised about the separation of Sunbury to Hume.
· Tamara asked Drew if the officer’s report to councillors had been completed yet regarding a proposed business case for Mickleham and Somerton road duplication. Drew suggested to contact Cr Haweil to follow this up.
· With the coming elections, whoever wins, the council is committed to work with them.
General Business: Nil
Meeting closed at 8:40 pm
