ELECTRIC cars, plummeting land valuations and the Chiko Roll are just a few of the concerns members of the public have asked councillors to think about when considering a Southern Ring Road bypass.
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About 30 people attended Bathurst Regional Council’s policy meeting on Wednesday night to have their say on the proposed bypass route.
Most of those who spoke did not mind the idea of a bypass to link the industrial areas of the city but felt very threatened by the route selected in a draft study carried out last year.
“We find it really quite intimidating to see that line on the map,” Margaret Glen from the Boundary Road Landcare Group said.
The route indicated in the study cuts through the Boundary Road Reserve area.
Environmental Planning and Building Services director David Shaw told residents the route was chosen by the company who carried out the study, not council.
He said the process of building a bypass was very drawn out and it was only in its very early stages.
“If council makes the decision to proceed with a study ... council would provide funds to employ someone to select a number of routes. All the issues [impacts of each route] will be part of a detailed study and some routes will be discarded. It is a long process to go through yet and no route has been chosen,” Mr Shaw said.
“It is a two or three-year process should council choose to go down that path.”
Oslek owner Wendy Smith said if the proposed Southern Ring Road becomes a reality it would “100 per cent destroy” their 225 acre clean green vegetable growing business.
Brian Roberson asked councillors to divorce themselves from the selected route, saying land valuations in the area had plummeted.
Environmental advocate Ashley Bland said there was a chance the bypass could become a “great, big cricket pitch”. He said in five or 10 years no one may be able to afford diesel and everyone could be driving electric cars.