Businesses from North Maclean are concerned about how their staff and customers will be impacted by proposed service road upgrades.
Olley’s Orange Country Market’s Steven Habchi and Seb Sorbello said they have been angered by the lack of consultation and poor communication from Department of Transport and Main Roads and they want to see the government listen to their concerns.
The pair have created a working group to form a united front and uniform voice to pitch solutions to the government.
“We aren’t against the highway upgrades, and we understand there are safety aspects, but surely there is a better way than cutting access off to St Aldwyn Road,” Mr Habchi said.
“Every hub needs a proper access point and the only entrances will be 2km away.
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“We’ve said from day one that safety is our number one priority, and saving lives, but we also want to save the lives of people needing to put food on the table.
“(Maybe) a little bit more money needs to be spent to try and do the job right and we know that 99 per cent of locals want (that).”
Mr Sorbello said there was a lot of local employment that would affected by the proposed changes.
“Mum and dad businesses (like those in the North Maclean complex) put everything on the line to make a go of it,” he said.
“There’s a lot of livelihoods on the line.”
Safety improvement
The proposed road changes are part of the North Maclean Safety Improvement project, announced in March, as part of a $20 million shared state and federal funding to upgrade the Mount Lindesay Highway.
As reported by the Times in April, the North Maclean businesses were circulating a petition connect a service road to St Aldwyn Road.
Mr Habchi said the first petition’s support just showed how passionate people were about the upgrades and having proper access to the business centre of North Maclean.
He said they had more than 3000 signatures between a new paper and online petition which calls for an exit ramp to access shops on St Aldwyn Road.
The current petition can be signed in person at Olley’s Orange Country Market or online at parliament.qld.gov.au/work-of-assembly/petitions/e-petitions.
Mr Sorbello said the group welcomed suggestions from those in the area.
The working group will host a public meeting at the corner of St Aldwyn Road and Mount Lindesay Highway, North Maclean, on August 27 at 11am.
