Beaches Link tunnel: Balgowlah Boys parents concerns over air quality
Parents at a popular high school closest to the new tunnel construction site have raised concerns about their children's health.
Manly
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Concerns have been raised about why a large high school has not been included on a list of sensitive sites during the building of the Beaches Link tunnel, despite being just over 300m away from an exhaust stack and across the road from the construction site.
Greg Cole, a parent of a Year 7 boy at Northern Beaches Secondary College, Balgowlah Boys Campus, said other schools and childcare facilities further away have been named as community receiver sites in the Environmental Impact Study.
Balgowlah Boys has more than 1000 pupils, but it is not on the list.
In the Environmental Impact Study, particularly sensitive locations such as schools, childcare centres and hospitals within a zone up to 1.5 km either side of the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link program of works corridor, and generally near significantly affected roadways, have been given community receiver status in the report.
Peek a Boo Cottage, St Cecilia’s Catholic Primary School, Seaforth Public School and Punchinello Kindergarten have been named as community receivers.
Mr Cole, a volunteer RFS firefighter and keen drone photographer, said he had worked out that as the crow flies those facilities are between 350m and 870m away from the exhaust stack and acoustic workshed area at Balgowlah.
However, Balgowlah Boys is closest at around 322m away and yet has not been granted the same status.
“I think it is very, very odd,” he said.
“Balgowlah Boys must have the highest concentration of people - or children - nearest the construction site.
“What happens on a stinking hot day and there is no wind or a light northerly?
“There will be a major concentration of fumes, dust and toxic particles.”
Mr Cole, who has posted a submission as part of the EIS consultation wrote Balgowlah Boys
“is the only location due south of the construction site, yet it’s not deemed to be particularly sensitive enough to be a community receiver”.
Mr Cole sadded that while he was not against the tunnel, he did not think public transport options had been thoroughly pursued.
Other parents on a community Facebook site have also been expressing their concerns over what the tunnel will mean for the boys at the school after the study revealed there would be 500 heavy truck movements a day going past the school, as well as 24/7 tunneling.
A Transport for NSW spokesman said he wanted to reassure the community that Balgowlah Boys was included in the air quality assessment and would continue to be taken into consideration during the build.
“The community receivers listed in the EIS is a representative sample of all potential community, workplace residential and recreational receptors, so while the school isn’t named, the potential air quality impacts at the location have been predicted and are considered in the results,” the spokesman said.
He said after the build “the data predicts some small improvements in air quality around this location due to reduced traffic on Manly Rd”.
The spokesman said Transport for NSW considers all schools and preschools key stakeholders. It has been engaging with them and will continue to do so throughout construction.
“We’ll work with them on potential impacts, such as noise, for which there are a range of measures available, as well as safely managing traffic around our site,” he said.
The consultation period on the Environmental Impact Study will close on March 1.
https://caportal.com.au/rms/bl
EARLIER:
Push to extend comment deadline on 12,000-page tunnel plan
By Jim O'Rourke
February 2, 2021
Transport planners have rejected pleas to extend the public submission period for the Beaches Link tunnel environmental impact statement.
Critics of the twin-tunnel toll road say there is not enough time to wade through the 14 volumes of documents, weighing 22kg.
Residents’ groups say the public needs more time — an extra two months — to digest the more than 12,000 pages in the EIS released on December 10.
They say it is unfair to expect residents to have reviewed the whole document during a COVID-19 lockdown in parts of the northern beaches and during the Christmas/New Year holiday period.
But the Planning Department says there is plenty of time to examine the EIS, which will have been exhibited for 61 days when the deadline is reached on March 1.
A Planning Department spokesman said that was more than a month longer than the standard exhibition period of 28 days for similar projects.
The pleas for a submission extension come as it can be revealed that as of January 29, there have been just 57 submissions. It is understood about a third of the submissions support the tunnels.
In an letter, written by Terry le Roux and Nerissa Levy on behalf of North Harbour Community Group, Balgowlah Residents Group, Baringa Bush Residents’ Group (Seaforth) and Clontarf Community Forums, Planning Minister Rob Stokes is urged to extend the submission time period “because we believe the quality and adequacy of the consultation process is currently at risk”.
A stack of the 14 volumes, — containing 12,000 pages and weighing 22 kgs — of the Beaches Link and Gore Hill Freeway Connection environmental impact statement the public can wade through as part of the public submission process that ends on March 1. Picture: Terrey le Roux
The letter said that some people were having problems navigating the “lengthy and complex” documents, especially on their computers and tablets.
“As we assist our residents to negotiate their way through the documents and answer their questions, we are seeking an extension of the submission period to April 30.
“We believe this will better allow for proper community consultation and well considered submissions during what is a difficult and challenging time for everyone.”
The Planning spokesman confirmed that the EIS was being exhibited until March 1.
“This is the same time frame used for the Western Harbour Tunnel and other major projects.
“The Department encourages the community to meet this deadline. Any late submissions should be submitted to the Department as soon as possible to enable Transport for NSW (TfNSW) more time to respond to the issues raised.”
TfNSW said as well as the chance to comment on the EIS there had been a range of consultation and engagement activities carried out since the project was announced in 2017.
“We’re continuing to work with the community, including on the northern beaches, and to adapt to the changing and challenging circumstances around COVID-19,” a spokesman said.
“Extensive doorknocking of local homes has already taken place around the northern beaches, including at Balgowlah.”
TfNSW has also set up an online “interactive portal”, including a virtual information booth and EIS summary guide “so the community can learn about how Beaches Link will transform the way we move around Sydney, and how we’re working to minimise any potential impacts”.
Residents can register for a virtual information session being held in February via the project website at nswroads.work/blportal.
The sessions will be recorded and made available on the interactive portal.
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