Safety and community issues - who would visit Hill Top after the shooters flood in?
The Government has acknowledged community concerns regarding dramatic increase in noise levels and traffic in a town without footpaths and with a narrow dangerously located access bridge. It has restricted (for now) use to four days a week.
Noise
But that means at least two (and sometimes four) days a week when the classes at the school will be subjected to the continual discharge of firearms. The disruptive jolts of continual random detonation of gunpowder flows unimpeded by any physical barrier from the range site into the classrooms.
The Government has done nothing further with noise surveying since independent experts declared the noise survey in the Government's Environmental Assessment totally inadequate. See the Accoustic Impacts report.
Traffic
Even the drive in from the M5 to Hill Top requires particular caution as it passes through deep, narrow cuttings with no leeway for error. The shooting complex will put large numbers of shooters intent on getting to their competition on a dangerous unfamiliar road.
Cutting from Above |
Cutting From Ground Level |
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Driving in Hill Top calls for three things locals take as givens:
The narrow access road must be approached and entered with great caution as meeting another vehicle while crossing is a highly dangerous situation. There are no plans to upgrade the bridge.
High awareness of possible pedestrian traffic on roads. Due to lack of footpaths, Hill Top residents must walk on the roads, particularly Wattle Ridge Road which leads to the proposed development.
The winding, loosely surfaced road to the Nattai National Park is subject to quick degradation with any traffic at all. It must be driven with great caution to avoid accidents with traffic from the other direction. Frequent accidents (including at least three in recent months) occur even with current minimal traffic levels.
On the Bridge |
Damaged Guard Rail |
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One shudders at the thought of hundreds of visiting shooters rushing off the M5 and into our fragile road infrastructure.Independent studies of the Government's Environmental Assessment of traffic risk found it had not adequately dealt with these issues. See the Traffic Impact Report.
The rectification of these issues would greatly increase the cost of the development .
Bushfires
We all remember when 30 fire units from as far away as Victoria stood guard for a week from Christmas Day 2001 while the bushfires which had rushed up from the Nattai Valley hovered at the western outskirts of our town.
It seems incomprehensible that the Government has ignored the enormous increase in potential for future such blazes to start as a result of increased traffic, human activity at the shooting complex and the proposed storage of ammunition at the site.
Again, independent studies of the Government's Environmental Assessment of fire risk found it had not adequately dealt with these dangers. See the Bushfire Impact Report