A group of Thirroul residents have called for Wollongong City Council to put a halt on housing development in their area until “traffic gridlock” plaguing the suburb can be solved.
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Residents of High Street and Pass Avenue turned out in force to the council’s Independent Hearing and Assessment Panel on Wednesday night to object to a proposed battle-axe subdivision in their neighbourhood.
Under the plan, the 9091 square metre site at 50 High Street would be divided into 10 lots: nine would be battle-axe blocks and one would have frontage to High Street.
The lots would range from 618 to 1246 square metres.
John Paegle, who lives close to the subdivision, told IHAP he thought the council should “put a hold” on all subdivisions in the northern suburbs until the traffic problems were solved.
“The council and state government have allowed overdevelopment to proceed in the northern suburbs, without improving roads to allow for increased traffic flow,” Mr Paegle said.
“As a result of these decisions, the traffic through Thirroul is at a gridlock each morning and afternoon.
“On weekends, it takes half an hour to travel from Coledale to High Street – a distance of three kilometres.”
Similar concerns were raised by several other speakers at the meeting, who also said their narrow street was only capable of allowing one way traffic through if cars were parked along the street.
“If the subdivision proceeds with 10 extra lots and a possible 16 dwellings, then traffic flow with increase up to 20 per cent on High Street,” Mr Paegle said.
There are a number of battle-axe subdivision on High Street, which has about 50 homes, and also on the adjoining Pass Avenue.
Another High Street resident, Leigh Brindley agreed traffic was already heavy, noting residents were forced to detour through other parts of Thirroul and Bulli to access Lawrence Hargrave Drive, which adjoins their street.
She disagreed with the council’s assessment that the subdivision would not have “unreasonable” impacts ontraffic.
“Our local road network is already under pressure because locals use it to avoid congestion on Lawrence Hargave Drive,” Ms Brindley said. “The increased traffic volume from this subdivision is only going to exacerbate existing traffic problems.”
But a consultant speaking on behalf of the landowner, Steve Hughes said the professional view of a traffic expert engaged as part of the application process was that it would “have no significant impact on the road network”.
He also noted the developer would be required to improve the existing road on High Street, which would help manage the problematic stormwater flow in the area.
IHAP will make a recommendation to council staff over whether the subdivision plan should be approved in the next few days.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
