I see where the aldermen of Hobart City Council have managed to ruffle the feathers of our top man for roads, Infrastructure Minister Jim Cox.
The decision by council at its recent meeting to investigate the possible prosecution of excessively noisy trucks using the Southern Outlet at Dynnyrne obviously didn’t sit well with the minister.
But it certainly struck a welcome responsive note with the Dynnyrne residents who have long had to put up with the night clatter of log trucks going through and have been rebuffed repeatedly by the minister in their various requests for positive action to end the nuisance.
The council decision had followed a report investigating whether it was possible for it to take legal action on the Outlet traffic noise problem from its powers under the Environmental Management and Pollution Control Act.
There was consultation with the Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources and the Department of Primary Industries, Water and Environment, and the opinion reported back by council officers late last month was there was little effective action the HCC could take under this legislation.
But it does have other policing powers, which are provided under the Local Government Act, to stop illegal noise pollution by offenders, and this was the main thrust of its intention emerging from long and animated discussion on the Outlet woes at the meeting last Monday night.
Individual aldermen certainly showed their strong feelings on the subject although you would have difficulty gaining that impression from reading the belated, abbreviated report that appeared well back in the pages of our morning newspaper on Wednesday.
For the minister certainly copped flak at the meeting. Had he been sitting in on the discussions he might have felt decidedly uncomfortable on hearing the remarks (well, as much as you can make a Bacon Government minister feel uncomfortable at all).
Alderman Ron Christie showed he was one prepared to take a hands-on approach and told how he had gone to the Davey Place area of Dynnyrne late one night last week to listen to the noise. In this he showed an active response to the residents’ plight - something Greens environment spokesman Nick McKim also did one early morning some time back.
The residents wonder if Minister Cox could spare the time to do the same.
The statements by aldermen at their meeting added up to a major call for action and the feeling council could no longer accept that nothing could be done.
There were comments on the level of noise now having reached the point of being unbearable, that the sounds from the Outlet can be heard across the water at Bellerive, the big growth in traffic on this highway, views that the problem had become totally unacceptable and the Government had a responsibility to do something, the impact of the noise on the health of the residents, that the council should really being pushing the barrow on this issue, suggestions that Lord Mayor Rob Valentine should be knocking on the door of the two Jims (Bacon and Cox) demanding action, and that the Government was in need of a rude awakening.
There was more in similar vein, but you get the general picture.
It was Alderman John Freeman who pushed the move for detecting and prosecuting excessively noisy trucks saying he was willing to bet all aldermen that if this started happening then the Government would act - it would find it in its interests to find a solution.
He spoke of the council using an expert with sound recording equipment and a camera to record the offenders.
Minister Cox, in his reaction to the report on the council’s move, expressed surprise that the HCC was considering noise recording when it was aware the Government had just undertaken Outlet vehicle noise testing by experts.
But he seemed to bypass the point of the council’s move - that it is moving to curb a long-running nuisance using its own legislative powers, and to do so it will therefore need to record its own evidence for possible prosecutions.
The minister also wheeled out the other action line he had previously given to the residents, of traffic inspectors issuing “a number” of defect notices to heavy vehicles where excessively noisy exhausts were detected and being required to install new mufflers. That sounds too general - what about the specifics on just how many defect notices have been issued, and have any come from log truck movements late at night?
The other point overlooked is the actual braking of the trucks on the Outlet descent - and the noise from this is the bane of residents’ night life.
The second prong of the HCC push is an urgent request to the Local Government Association of Tasmania to consider a whole local government approach to the Government on traffic and noise impacts from major roads on adjacent residential areas - with the Southern Outlet a priority.
The ball now seems to be in the Government’s court, but will it just swat it away as before?
One reason I’m not optimistic of a positive result is a letter written back in mid-2001 by a senior officer of the Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources to the HCC in response to complaints Dynnyrne’s residents had made about the excessive log truck noise in the early hours of the morning.
He wrote: “The Southern Outlet is a major State Classified Arterial Truck Route servicing many towns and timber plantations south of Hobart. The alternative routes linking south to north of Hobart are the Channel Highway and Old Huon Road. Of these three routes, the Southern Outlet is undoubtedly the preferred safest and most efficient traffic route for transportation of essential goods, fast services, high volume of passengers and vehicles. In fact, the whole reason the Southern Outlet was built was to provide such improved transportation delivery system linking areas south of Hobart. Hence, there is no regulatory restrictions imposed on any heavy vehicles using the Southern Outlet throughout the day. As far as the Department is concerned, no future restrictions will be imposed on any heavy vehicles for using the Southern Outlet.”
To me, that indicates the Government’s intent - and it sounds like carry on trucking logs regardless.
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Sunday, December 21, 2003