Furious locals push for action over level crossing removal project
Outraged residents who say level-crossing removal projects are destroying amenities in their neighbourhoods want the Ombudsman to step in.
Victoria
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Local residents angry over level-crossing removal projects harming the amenity of their areas have called on the Victorian Ombudsman to intervene.
Representatives of six groups covering suburbs from Pakenham to Strathmore have accused the state government’s Level Crossing Removal Project (LXRP) of an “autocratic, aggressive and adversarial organisational culture that rewards ‘getting the job done’ at almost any cost”.
In a letter to Ombudsman Deborah Glass, the groups claim the LXRP routinely refused to acknowledge negative project impacts on areas such as residential amenity. “This refusal often leads impacted residents to experience distress and a strong sense of disempowerment,” it said.
Last week, some Mont Albert residents expressed outrage when trees planted in honour of local World War I veterans were chopped down for a level-crossing project.
The trees were removed to make way for a hi-rail access pad involving the proposed combined Mont Albert and Surrey Hills station.
Mont Albert and Surrey Hills activists joined Montmorency, Cheltenham, Pakenham and Strathmore groups to ask Ms Glass to look into project issues.
“Our shared experiences raise deep concerns around the planning and building of these projects, in particular the transparency and integrity of the process followed by the LXRP,” their letter said. “We have observed misuse of process, the misleading of local councils and the community, and conflicts of interest.”
Issues raised include allegations of improper consultation, lack of transparency, secretive processes, and in some cases presenting “final” plans only to later make significant changes.
“We cannot accept that the practices and behaviours we have observed should become normalised, and do not believe they should become further entrenched and prejudice outcomes in other projects around Victoria,” the letter said.
The groups acknowledged the importance of the government’s extensive infrastructure agenda, but said “this agenda does not legitimise … pervasive practices”.
Level Crossing Removal CEO Kevin Devlin said community feedback played a big part in shaping projects.
“And we’ve proudly engaged with locals on each of the 56 dangerous and congested level crossings we’ve removed since 2015,” he said.
“We work with locals to achieve the best outcome for each area, and our level crossing removal projects deliver huge benefits including improved safety, eased congestion, new stations and more train services.”
The LXRP said community feedback was taken into account on every level crossing removal project.
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