The juxtaposition and dissonance of Merri-bek Council last night on addressing transport issues was astounding. We know we need to change transport behaviours and infrastructure to address the growing climate emergency. Councillors are happy to vote for motherhood statements in the Transport Strategy, but when it comes to the nitty gritty of actual changes, some of them baulk, even at doing an initial consultation process.

In our 2023 Refresh statement on Transport Policy in Merri-bek for the climate emergency we specifically called for Council to “vigorously pursue traffic calming measures, and local street closures to stop rat running.”

Item 7.1 Council considered the Moving Around Merri-bek new Transport Strategy. This includes incorporating a Streets for People approach – a new approach for selecting, analysing, designing, and delivering streetscape improvements across the transport system. The Strategy has lots of lofty statements about the need to address transport emissions and road safety to address a future municipal vision. Council passed this agenda item unanimously.

The debate on Moving Around Merribek can be watched at this point in the Council meeting at 1:54:50 to 2:05:54: https://www.youtube.com/live/i9Cn-Ri2mFw?si=wb-lml9t9gRSYgFZ&t=6887

Item 7.2 was a Council officer proposal that identified two local roads to proceed with a trial road closure treatment which also supports safe access to local schools. The sites were selected based on the draft Moving Around Merri-bek strategy. These sites are Pearson Street, Brunswick West at the intersection of Albion Street, and Barrow Street at the intersection of Harding Street, Coburg. Both streets are known as traffic rat runs. The initial part of the road closure process involves advertising a trial closure, consulting with local citizens, hearing submissions to inform a report back to Council in July to inform a decision to proceed with a temporary trial closure.

Councillors Tapinos, Davidson, Yildiz, and Carli-Hannan voted against the consultation being undertaken. Cr Bolton abstained, which effectively acts as a ‘no’ vote. Councillors Riley, Panopolous, Pulford and Conlan voted ‘yes’ to start the process.

The debate on item 7.2 proposed road closures can be viewed at 2:05:54 to 2:30:20 : https://www.youtube.com/live/i9Cn-Ri2mFw?si=-gE1Nvf9bXy4NDhA&t=7551

So what did Council Officers propose regarding the two proposed road closures? Here is the executive summary from the Council Agenda:

Executive Summary
The Draft Moving Around Merri-bek Strategy (2023) identifies key values and actions for making streets and in Merri-bek Safe, Accessible, Sustainable, Healthy, Liveable, and Inclusive. To meet the objectives tied to the values of Safe, Healthy, Sustainable and Liveable, Council officers identified opportunities for restricting private vehicle movement on streets that meet the following criteria:

• Streets with strong year-on-year growth due to rat-running.
• Local streets on strategic cycling corridors or which will complete ‘missing links’ in the cycling network.
• Areas where we want to encourage people to linger and spend time.

While there are several streets that would meet this criteria, Council Officers are restricted by the rigorous process required for trialling, consulting, monitoring, evaluating and reporting on these treatments in line with the Road Management Act 2004. Therefore, opportunities to undertake these treatments are carefully considered against the criteria above. To address key community safety concerns and the new objectives detailed in the Draft Moving Around Merri-bek Strategy, Council Officers have identified two local roads to proceed with a trial road closure treatment which also support safe access to local schools. These sites are Pearson Street, Brunswick West at the intersection of Albion Street, and Barrow Street at the intersection of Harding Street, Coburg.

Pearson Street, Brunswick West is classified as a local road between Albion Street and Hope Street and as a collector road between Hope Street and Dawson Street. It is adjacent to Brunswick North Primary School and is a known rat-run for drivers providing an alternative north-south connection for drivers travelling between Dawson Street and Bell Street, allowing drivers to avoid Melville Road and Sydney Road. Pearson Street is also a recommended on-road bicycle route for cyclists with line-marked bicycle sharrows. Council is proposing a road closure on Pearson Street, Brunswick West, at the intersection with Albion Street, from Albion Street to a point up to 8 metres further south.

Barrow Street, Coburg, is classified as a local road and runs north-south between Bell Street and Moreland Road. Similar to Pearson Street it provides an alternative north-south route for drivers avoiding Sydney Road and is a known rat-run. Barrow Street forms part of the East Brunswick Shimmy bicycle route with line-marked bicycle sharrows. Barrow Street provides access to the gates of St Bernards Primary School and is an important bicycle and pedestrian link for students attending Coburg High School. Council is proposing a road closure on Barrow Street, Coburg, at the intersection with Harding Street, from Harding Street to a point up to 8 metres further south.

The trial road closures will reduce rat-running through these local roads, support school active travel and improve existing bicycle routes while maintaining local access for residents within the sections of road closures. The closures will create a safer road environment for the most vulnerable road users including pedestrians and cyclists by reducing vehicle volumes and speeds.

In order to proceed with the road closures at these location, Clause 10, Schedule 11 of the Local Government Act 1989 (the Act) grants the power to Council to place barriers on a road temporarily for a genuine traffic diversion experiment. Section 207A of that Act requires that the Section 223 public consultation procedure be followed enabling public submissions to be considered prior to any Council decision.

The Act also requires Council to consider a report from the Department of Transport and Planning on the proposal.

If the trial is successful, a further Section 223 process would be required prior to any permanent road closure. This will enable the community to consider the impacts of the temporary road closure with a further opportunity provided for submissions before a final decision on any permanent road closure.

Council officers are recommending that Council commences the trial road closures at Pearson Street south of Albion Street and Barrow Street south of Harding Street.

Faith Hunter, Convenor of Merri-bek Bicycle User Group called out the hypocrisy of Councillors voting against the initial consultation on these road closures immediately after voting for Council to adopt the Moving Around Merri-bek new transport Strategy.

Considering how many times these Councillors have argued in the chamber for more consultation on road safety projects in the past, particularly Crs Bolton and Tapinos, it is baffling that they wouldn’t even allow consultation to start. 

The other disturbing aspect of this vote was that from the comments made by Crs Bolton, Tapinos and Carli-Hannan it doesn’t appear as if they attended the officer briefing on this project. It is disappointing to see fear-mongering and repeating of misinformation about how traffic behaves in the chamber, particularly when Council employs trained professionals who are available to Councillors to provide explanations of these matters. 

Crs Tapinos and Carli-Hannan even argued that rat running traffic should be able to use a designated local road outside a school, rather than the nearby arterial (Melville Rd) it is supposed to use. 

The Pearson St and Barrow Street routes have great significance for people moving around on bikes in Merri-bek and Pearson St will be even more important as the Victoria St bike lanes project progresses. We hear constant complaints about rat running on these routes, and the integrity of the East Brunswick Shimmy has certainly been impacted by traffic behaviour south of Harding Street. Coburg High School students rely on the Barrow St route and it is part of the route Merri Primary students use as they transition to high school.

The willingness of Councillors to support Ride and Stride programs at the schools identified on these routes but not back them up with any meaningful consultation on supportive environment changes is increasingly noted by residents. 

Email to Merribek BUG: A vote AGAINST consultation on safe local streets! 14 March, 2024

So it seems our Council Officers are more in tune with effecting changes in our municipality addressing transport safety issues and the climate crisis than several Councillors.

References:

Video record of Council Meeting 13 March on Youtube:
The debate on Moving Around Merribek can be watched at this point in the Council meeting at 1:54:50 to 2:05:54: https://www.youtube.com/live/i9Cn-Ri2mFw?si=wb-lml9t9gRSYgFZ&t=6887
The debate on item 7.2 proposed road closures can be viewed at 2:05:54 to 2:30:20 : https://www.youtube.com/live/i9Cn-Ri2mFw?si=-gE1Nvf9bXy4NDhA&t=7551

Merri-bek Council 13 March Meeting Agenda https://www.merri-bek.vic.gov.au/globalassets/website-merri-bek/areas/my-council/council-and-committee-meetings/council-and-parm-meetings/agendas/2024-agendas/council-agenda-2024—3-13-march—pdf-with-attachments.pdf

Climate Action Merribek, 18 April 2023, Transport Policy in Merri-bek for the Climate Emergency (2023 refresh) https://climateactionmerribek.org/2023/04/18/transport-policy-in-merri-bek-for-the-climate-emergency-2023-refresh/