Current Status

From Mary at BNFNG:

• I attended the Kooyong Community Forum on Thursday 9 Dec held by our Federal MP, Josh Frydenberg. Several members of BNFNG attended and we had the opportunity to speak with Andrew McIntosh (Kew MP & now State Minister), Josh Frydenberg and Nick Tragas (the new Boroondara Mayor). Discussions were very positive - and I was very impressed by Josh's commitment to the people he represents.
• Congratulations to both Andrew & Robert Clarke MP on their appointments to the State cabinet.
• Congratulations to Nick Tragas on his appointment as Mayor.
• Congratulations to both our councillor Brad Miles, elected as Chair of Services Special Committee, and to Councillor Phillip Healey, Studley Ward, elected as Chair of Urban Planning Committee (who has been a long-time supporter of BNFNG) on their appointments.
• We are hoping to meet with Rob Clarke (now State's Attorney-General) in late January/February to discuss a solution to our issue, better protection for all Victorian communities via a better and more consistent measurement standard, having an authority other than VicRoads protecting communities, night time policy, and the ramifications for Balwyn North, Kew and Bulleen of the proposed North East Link.

Rally 21 November 2010

On a sunny Sunday morning 150 dedicated and passionate people attended our Community Rally. Thank you to all those who were able to attend.

Special thanks to -

• our Mayor Jack Wegman and councillors - Brad Miles, Coral Ross, Phillip Healey and Nick Tragas who attended, for their ongoing support & for working most of the morning as MC's or cooking sausages, etc
• representives from all the political parties for our area, particularly Rob Clarke MP and Andrew McIntosh MP for their ongoing support and encouragement
• the amazing Deb Ganderton from our council and her team
• Eileen, Ken, Sean, Barbara, Lorri and their families from Balwyn North who assisted with delivering brochures
• Chanmali Tregambe from CPR who was the main organiser of the event
• Councillors Phillip Healey and Coral Ross for their BBQ skills
• Maria of Kawarren Street for cutting all those onions
• (edit by BNFNG: ...and some photographs from the event can be seen on our website )
• (edit by BNFNG: ...and a short video presentation of the event can be found here )

We will not stop until we get noise protection for our community - no matter how long it takes!
But at least our voice is being heard:

• We had a "mention" in The Age last Sunday (edit by BNFNG: click here for the article from The Age on Monday 22/11/10 - see the last three paragraphs...)
• Mary H had 5 minutes on MTR radio on Monday morning speaking with Steve Price regarding how the noise affects our community, issue with trucks particularly at night & air brakes and re allocation of funds - we hope that Steve will question Tim Pallas when he speaks with him this week, particularly regarding the allocation of funding for noise barriers which seems to be directed only to labor electorates.
• We expect some coverage in next week's Progress Leader.

I will attach some of the notes from my address at the rally in the next few days. (edit by BNFNG: click here for the transcript of Mary's speech )

Interesting information on the Eastlink/Connecteast website - 13,000 noise wall panels were erected along Eastlink. How frustrating it is for us - we can't even get 1!!!

Watch this space for our next steps...

Community Rally

Calling all Balwyn Northers to attend this rally !

We need to demonstrate that freeway noise & pollution are a major issue for our community, in our homes and in our reserve.

This is YOUR opportunity and unless we demonstrate this, there may not be another one.

Please attend with your family & friends...

...and see the Nov 9 Progress Leader article "Clamour over noise"

"An Election Message for Box Hill North and Balwyn North Voters" - from Friends of Banyule

Local residents will have received a flyer in their letterboxes from the Friends of Banyule (a community organisation with similar concerns regarding freeway-related issues).

Entitled "An Election Message for Box Hill North and Balwyn North Voters", it provides interesting insights into relevant issues for the upcoming state election. (Don't forget to vote on Saturday 27 November 2010).

If you didn't receive the flyer, it can be viewed here.

[From Mary of BNFNG:

Please note that this leaflet was not produced in consultation with the BNFNG, so please direct any queries to those mentioned in the leaflet.

Although members of our community may be members of Friends of Banyule and support the main content of the leaflet, BNFNG's focus is purely on alleviating the freeway noise and pollution currently experienced in the Balwyn North community.

We have no political affiliations, we seek a consistent state policy for the benefit of all communities.

With regard to the rail to Doncaster, BNFNG has had no discussions to formulate a community view - however, I foresee concern that there is insufficient room in the freeway reserve for either the rail extension or the North East Link. This has implications for our Koonung Creek reserve.]

Current Status (updated October 2010)

• Over 600 people attended the meeting on 6 October 2010 at The Centre in Ivanhoe to discuss North East Link. Congratulations to the team at Friends of Banyule on a very informative and well run event.
• One of our members is raising our issue with the Hawthorn ALP branch (thanks Peter).
• Email to Rob Clarke MP (State representative) on 14/9/10 re North East Link and our current situation. Rob is well aware of our plight and has already responded.
• Met with two council officers in the Reserve in mid October 2010 to get our request for a noticeboard underway.
• Letter to Josh Frydenberg (Federal Member for Kooyong) of 18/8/10 - telephone response from Josh's office on 20/9/10 - they will look into further (possibly liaising with Rob Clarke's office) and get back to us. Mary H is meeting with Josh Frydenberg on 1/12/10 to discuss our issue and any scope for assistance at the Federal level.
• * Letter sent to Victorian Ombudsman * on 20/9/10 (and subsequent information provided in late October) regarding lack of State policy to protect the health and safety of Victorians and their environment from freeway noise and pollution, particularly with regard to lack of interest/action from EPA and lack of night-time noise policy. Further contact from Ombudsman's office in mid-November who are looking into the VicRoads Policy and transparency of funds allocated.

METROPOLITAN TRANSPORT FORUMS

The Metropolitan Transport Forum (MTF), of which the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) is an associate member, is holding public transport forums in various areas around Melbourne in the lead-up to November’s state election.

The forums will feature speakers from all the major parties and questions from the community.

Six forums are planned so far, including at the Box Hill Town Hall on 30 August (with Robert Clark, MLA Box Hill): details can be found here.

BNFNG letter to Mr Josh Frydenberg

In this final week of campaigning for the Federal election, residents would most likely have received a personalised letter from Mr Josh Frydenberg (the Liberal candidate for Kooyong) detailing some key election policies.

Interestingly, the letter states the following:

"Some of my local commitments in Kooyong include:

• ...
• $375,000 in direct action environmental initiatives at Koonung Creek Reserve...

...PS. I'm asking you to vote Liberal on Saturday to ... get things done locally."

In response (and given the ongoing frustration in dealing with State respresentatives and VicRoads), Mary of BNFNG has written to Mr Frydenberg seeking assistance in regard to the noise dilemma we continue to endure.

[Read the letter here (~115KB) or visit the BNFNG Releases web-page.]

Don't forget to vote on Saturday 21st August (and in the upcoming State election too...)

.

Boroondara Bulletin, July 2010

The latest edition of the City of Boroondara publication Boroondara Bulletin contains a feature on freeway noise, including a contribution from Mary of BNFNG.

See the article here

or

download the July 2010 Bulletin here (~2.4MB)

Comments welcome !

Emails - Ensure BNFNG is on your "Safe" List

Some members have advised that they are not receiving our email updates. However, upon checking, we have found that they are on our email distribution list.

So, if you've contacted us & registered for emails but haven't received any, would you please ensure that our email address bnfng@aol.com.au is added to your "Safe List".

If you want to check that you are on our email list, please email us at bnfng@aol.com.au.

Thanks

Seeking donations of dirt to complete the noise mounds?

We've missed out on any funding in the current State budget again?
Is it because we're not in a labor or marginal electorate?
Maybe we should just do it ourselves?
Surely there's some spare dirt in the State that could be used to complete the noise mounds that we were promised in the early 1990's?
Tell us what you think?
What do you suggest?

Other Actions/Suggestions

• Sign - "Trucks - Avoid Using Engine Brakes" .... Yes, VicRoads have confirmed that a sign was installed on 4 March 2010. It's approx 600 m before the Bulleen Road exist on the Balwyn North side.
• Night Time Noise Policies - We are in contact with other resident groups in other areas along Eastlink regarding the need for nightime noise policies and restrictions, particularly re truck noise. We will advise further in this regard.
• Koonung Creek Reserve Advisory Committee - If you are interested in joining/contributing, please email bnfng@aol.com.au.
  

Begging for Barriers

Good news

Via Progress Leader article today (see here), our council is actively pursuing funding to achieve the much needed and long overdue noise attenuation measures for Balwyn North residents and users of the beautiful Koonung Creek Reserve.

Thank you to our Mayor Jack Wegman and everyone at our Council and VicRoads for their efforts to date ... However, we still have a long way to go to achieve relief from the horrific increase in noise and pollution ...

To reinforce the horrible increase in noise levels from the M3 and sleep deprivation of residents from trucks that go "all night long" and engine brakes that "grind" along the whole section from Doncaster Road to Bulleen Road as the trucks slow to exit, you might like to personally write to our Mayor Cr Jack Wegman, City of Boroondara, Private Bag 1, Camberwell , VIC, 3124 (email Jack.Wegman@boroondara.vic.gov.au) and our councillor Brad Miles (email Brad.Miles@boroondara.vic.gov.au)

Council - Draft North East Precinct Project Report

There is currently a draft report on the Council’s website [draft North East Precinct Project report] and accompanying survey for community feedback.

• Please read the report as it contains much interesting information about our community.
• This is a great opportunity to have your say, but you need to do this by 5 March.
• It is also available from the Balwyn Community Centre, all libraries and Council's customer service centres.
• I was at one of the focus sessions (early 2009) mentioned in the report and spoke strongly about the upset in our community regarding freeway noise and the lack of resident input regarding the Koonung Creek Reserve. It’s unfortunate that it only warranted a couple of lines in the report.
• I hadn't realised until that focus session that Balwyn North is the least serviced area in Boroondara with regard to Council facilities - we essentially have none - no community centre, library, etc - no where for residents to communicate with each other. Our only public transport option is an infrequent bus service, which in my opinion is insufficient for our community. Our Koonung Creek Reserve is an integral part of our community and the affects of freeway noise and pollution on it should be a major issue for council as well as any future threats to it by freeway extensions (i.e. expansion to 6 lanes which we understand is in the planning stage and the North East Link).
• Please utilise this opportunity to have your say about freeway noise and other issues that concern you and let your neighbours know.

Parliament House Rally - 24 Feb 2010

There will be a rally on the steps of Parliament House, on 24 Feb 2010.

"...may be an opportunity for BNFNG to get on board...."

Other groups have freeway issues too !

Main details here: savethepines.net

The 3CR site also has details, here: 3CR Rally to SAVE OUR BUSH

(a full-size version of the flyer is here)