Will Moorebank be home to a massive inland port?
The short answer is residents and even council, would have to say: ``probably yes, but we don't know anything concrete about it''.
With the information vacuum surrounding the plans for the proposed intermodal freight terminal still firmly in place, residents' frustration with the situation continues to grow.
I think it's time for Liverpool Council to step in and start pushing for more information.
The federal government announced $300 million in funding for scheme three years ago and, since then, no specific information about the plan has been released.
But there has been a lot of vague speculation.
Judging by which, the terminal will be a very significant project, which will have an irrevocable affect on Liverpool, as one resident said we will be ``flooded'' with containers.
We're talking about hundreds, maybe thousands, more trucks on the M5, hundreds of freight trains on the Southern Sydney Freight Line, all headed towards a 200 hectare site equipped to store up to a million containers at a time, as well as a back up site of half the size
across the road and possibly another one behind that, to sort the contents of the containers.
And they won't just be stored there, they'll need to be unpacked and the goods will need to be loaded on trucks and ferried elsewhere.
It's an immense proposal.
But where is the detail?
It's time for the council to do all they can to put the pressure on for more information.
So far, councillors and council staff have shown of interest in the project, with general manager Phil Tolhurst, asking Michael Deegan from Infrastructure Australia several probing questions at industry meeting in Campbelltown last year and then vowing to search for
more information on the proposal.
Whenever I've asked Liverpool Mayor Wendy Waller about it she's always said that she is concerned about the possible affects the plan could have on the area, but she thinks that any possible terminal is a long way off because the plan is in its early stages of development.
Which is obviously true; that's why there isn't that much information.
The councillors are more on the ball with the issue, with several, including Peter Harle and Jim McGoldrick expressing concern over the size of the proposed project and the traffic and environmental affects it could have on our area.
No matter what anyone has said though, official detailed plans are yet to emerge, or possibly, be disclosed; one way or the other, we haven't seen them.
But every once in a while information suddenly appears, either online, or in a speech by a politician or bureaucrat, which makes it seem like there is more detail out there ... somewhere.
But why is it being covered up and why do industry lobby groups, internet bloggers and some irate residents seem to know more about what's being planned than our councillors, mayor and council general manager?
The council couldn't have any direct control or most probably even impact on this issue, because the intermodal terminal would be on Federally owned land and freight is a Federal issue, while the traffic concerns would most fitting lie with the State Government.
The State is responsible for the construction of the Southern Sydney Freight Line and the expansion of the M5, both designed to allow the containers to be transported to the terminal easily and efficiently.
So yes, as the mayor has told me, Liverpool Council couldn't have direct control of the planning, but this is happening in their area. They need to stand up, get involved in the issue and start lobbying everyone involved.
They need to make sure that this huge project won't have a detrimental affect on our area.
That traffic congestion, polluted air, noise from the terminal, constant freight noise and destruction of the Georges River do not go hand in hand with this container plan.
It seems like both Governments and major parties are set on the terminal going ahead.
So it may not be possible to stop the plan all together.
But it is possible to make sure that Liverpudlians and especially the residents of nearby suburbs Wattle Grove and Holsworthy get the best deal possible. They deserve it.
When they moved in to their quiet, leafy suburbs, they didn't expect that their could be a million containers being trucked in, banged around and unloaded only 200 metres from their homes!
And since the mayor and the councillors are their local representatives, its up to them to fight for their lifestyle to be protected.
If the terminal must go in, sound attenuation measures need to be part of the plan for the site.
They can't be left until later, as they have been with both the Southern Sydney Freight Line and the M5 in this area, causing Casula residents years of suffering and heartache.
Obviously noise barriers need to be factored in before the project is even started.
So they need to be factored in now.
And with this proposal they would be much easier than with the road and the freight line; man made earth hills between the residential suburbs and the container terminal would be sufficient to stop the majority of the noise in this case.
The West Wattle Grove site, behind the secondary Stockland Developments owned site on the other side of the road from the main terminal would serve perfectly for this purpose.
Unless like local man Roy Carter theorises, that site is earmarked to for a back up sorting facility as well, of course, and then the residents' new neighbours will be containers.
After this the other, and probably bigger issue that arises from the plan is of course traffic.
Now that one would be harder to solve, but of course would involve sending as many containers as possibly by freight train and upgrading the Moorebank Avenue exit from the M5, to avoid creating a truck parking lot.
Even these measures may not help.
Regardless, planning is obviously going on now and now is when council needs to put its points across for local residents. They need to make their voices heard before the plans are completed so that what's necessary can be taken into account.
In short, they need to act now.
Email a friend