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“TRUCK STOP” ENDANGERING KIDS LIVES!
Owners of a property in Terrey Hills are being accused of effectively running an illegal Truck Stop directly opposite a busy Primary School, with local residents claiming it’s only a matter of time before someone is hurt.
“These large trucks are coming and going as school students are dropped off and picked up from the school gate” said Warringah Mayoral candidate Michael Regan. “I was actually nearly run over myself at 3pm one afternoon and I’m a freakishly tall grown-up. For a young child crossing this already busy road, a huge Mack truck maneuvering in and out is creating an extremely dangerous situation” Mr Regan said.
Local residents brought their concerns to Mr Regan because Council has allowed the unauthorised activity to take place for nearly 18 months.
“This is an unfortunate example of Council failing to act and it’s the local community that is putting up with the consequences.”
The owners of the property on Myoora Road were served with an official notice from Warringah Council in January 2007. They were notified that they were in breach of permissible use for the property and that Council intended to serve an order. As a result, the owners lodged a development application that was later withdrawn when it was clear that Council was going to issue a refusal.
“Council should have acted there and then and enforced their original notice. But instead, they allowed the owner to get away with 18 months of illegal use.” Mr Regan said. “The cycle continued when another notice of intent to serve an order was lodged in May this year and here we are again with yet another DA being lodged.”
Apart from the very obvious safety issues, local residents are also concerned about the hours of operation.
“There are reports of trucks starting their engines as early as 3am and exiting/ entering the property at these times. That’s just not fair on local residents” said Mr Regan.
“The simple fact is that this area is just not built for an operation of this type. As well as the primary school, we’ve got the Japanese school down the road and the German school about to open up. The traffic in the area is bad enough already, we don’t need big 16 wheelers continuing to add to the problem”.
“Council really has let the community down on this one. How does someone buy a block of land and start any old business they want to without proper consent from Council”.
“These land owners should be made to comply with the proper regulations just like everyone else. It’s another example of why Warringah needs good strong independent Councillors who know the process and a free of vested interests to make sure the views and concerns of the community are heard loud and clear and acted upon.”
“If I’m elected on September 13th, I’ll be ensuring that the rights of residents are protected and that all matters of non-compliance are investigated promptly and dealt with accordingly. This current administration seem to be afraid of taking matters to the court no matter how black and white the case is. Instead it looks to negotiate and placate those who blatently break their rules. Then they fail to follow up in a prompt manner and enforce compliance. We want change in that attitude. Unfortunately this case is typical of what I’m hearing from residents who have approached me in frustration with similar examples of Council not acting tough enough. We’re demanding a change to this attitude and to the process to ensure that residents rights are protected”.
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