THE passionate public meeting of a recently formed Highway Improvements Working Group took place on Sunday, August 27 at Olley’s Orange Country Markets, North Maclean.
A crowd of approximately 150 concerned residents and employees attended, eager to have their voices heard on planned alterations to access from the Mount Lindesay Highway that many fear will negatively impact the business precinct at the corner of St Aldwyn’s Road.
The proposed changes are part of the North Maclean Safety Improvement project announced in March, a $20 million state- and federally-funded upgrade.
A petition was started in April with the support of state Member for Logan Linus Power, who spoke at Sunday’s meeting, joined by Logan City Council’s chairman for infrastructure, councillor Phil Pidgeon.
Olley’s Orange Country Markets owner Steven Habchi spoke to the Times after the meeting and said the response had been exciting.
“We’ve had a lot of businesses in the city previously, and this just shows how different the country people are, they really care.
“The turnout was much more than I anticipated.
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“We’ve only been at the business for two and half years. From what I’ve gathered from talking to a lot of locals, they were told twenty years ago there would be four lanes through here, and twenty-five years later nothing’s really changed.
“A lot of people have moved here thinking that the infrastructure was going to improve, but they’ve been really disappointed with what the state government has done.
”Our centre alone employs 150 local people. If they change the roads without acknowledging the business precinct, a good 20 per cent of them will lose their jobs.”
Enough is enough
When asked what he thought of the chance of a change being made to the road plan, Mr Habchi said he thought it was slim, considering what the Department of Transport and Main Roads was telling the working group.
“We have a state government that’s not contributing enough money into this part of Brisbane, and it’s really caused a lot of problems. They’re on a tight budget and they’re trying to find band-aid solutions, which I think the people in the area are sick of. Enough is enough,” he said.
“I think the problem we have is that you’ve got people promising the world, like let’s spend $400 million, and there’s other people saying we’ve got to renovate this road bit by bit, and that’s not good, so we’ve got one extreme to the other.
“I believe the solution is to look at where the growing areas and the hubs are, where things are expanding rapidly, and lets’s look at these areas and see where we need to spend money.
“We might not need $400 million, but we need more than $20 million. We might be able to get away with $100 million.
“I honestly believe that we just need a double lane all the way to maybe Cedar Grove and Cedar Vale, that’s where the growth is happening.”
Local employers
According to Mr Habchi, staff at his business are behind the public stance the business has made.
“We’ve got the best staff in the world, they’re very supportive.
“We try so hard to accommodate employees. Whether they’re at uni, or they’re a full-time mother, we try to make it work, and it’s not always easy from a business owner’s perspective, trying to balance 40 to 50 staff.”
Mr Habchi said he believed the way forward is for the community to work together.
“The more people are divided, the more Main Roads get to accomplish what they want without acknowledging any of the people in the area.
“The most important thing is for the business precinct, and for the residential property owners, to come together to come up with a solution.
“We need to have one common goal,” he said.
To sign the petition and stay abreast of the campaign, go to Olley’s Orange Country Market Facebook Page facebook.com/olleysorange/.
