IF they see eye-to-eye on nothing else, at least Kent and Dianne McNab, Bathurst Regional Council, Councillor Alex Christian and Calare MP Andrew Gee seem to agree on this: they’re disappointed.
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It didn’t much matter who we approached for comment regarding Wednesday’s confirmation that no federal funding would be made available to build a roundabout at the intersection of Mitre, Suttor and Lambert streets, the response was always the same.
Council, which had agreed to set aside half the funding for the roundabout in the hope the federal government would foot the bill for the other half, was “disappointed” no money would be provided [according to general manager David Sherley].
Mr and Mrs McNab, the West Bathurst residents who have done more than anyone to try and see this project through, were “very disappointed” – “devastated”, in fact.
Cr Christian, who made the roundabout a key plank in his successful election campaign last September, was “tremendously disappointed”.
And Mr Gee, who became the target for much of the campaigners’ anger as his government took months to make a decision, was “bitterly disappointed”.
If tears were cash and concrete, the roundabout would be well on its way. Unfortunately they’re not, and no amount of disappointment will make that intersection any safer.
What we need is what we have needed for the best part of two decades – action.
The case for a roundabout should not be decided by crash statistics and desktop studies, it should be decided by standing at the intersection and watching the chaos there each morning and afternoon.
It beggars belief that a bureaucrat sitting in Canberra could rate this intersection as less worthy for funding than almost 150 projects across the country – and all sight unseen.
A petition circulated by the McNabs collected more than 5000 signatures of people who want to see a roundabout built and every one of those people knows more about the intersection than those charged with deciding just how dangerous it might be.
So today the people of Bathurst deserve to be angry, though it’s hard to know just where that anger should be directed.
What we do know, though, is a system that ignores the wishes of a community, its council and even its federal MP is a terribly flawed system.
The people of Bathurst deserve better.
