Thousands of submissions against WestConnex New M5 EIS

Community groups and local residents fighting to stop WestConnex contributed a remarkable 9000 submissions to the Department of Planning by last Friday’s deadline.  These were in response to the latest Environmental Impact Statement for the the New M5, the section of toll road between Kingsgrove and St. Peters. 

NSW Greens spokesperson for WestConnex Jenny Leong said, "The fact that this remarkable number of submissions were made during the summer holiday period, shows the community’s level of concern and anger at having this expensive, 50’s style mega road forced on them without being offered cleaner, more sustainable options for solving Sydney’s transport congestion problems.

“The New M5 EIS has been roundly criticised because it is overtly one-sided and pushes Westconnex at the expense of truthfully indicating the many serious consequences of building this toll road – or genuinely exploring alternative options.

“The NSW government needs to take notice of the opinion of professional planners at the City of Sydney who have slammed this EIS as being so ‘profoundly inadequate’ that it should not be used as a basis for any decision making about the project.

“It’s time to independently review WestConnex and completely re-evaluate the way it’s been pushed onto the people of NSW without proper analysis of alternative options and long-term financial and environmental impacts.