The NSW Labor Opposition has slammed the Berejiklian Liberal Government for failing to deliver on its promise to devote two lanes of Parramatta Road to public transport as a condition for the new M4 East tunnels.
Today in Parliament Planning Minister Rob Stokes failed to give any assurance that he was going to deliver on the planning condition for the M4 East – that is that two lanes are given over for “public transit” on the Sydney artery.
Labor’s Active Transport spokesperson, the Member for Summer Hill Jo Haylen, asked: “It is now a month after the M4 East opening. Given that two lanes of rapid public transport on Parramatta Road have not been delivered when it was a condition of you giving planning consent for the M4 East project, what will you now do to make this happen?”
The Minister had ample opportunity to commit to the planning directive but instead said that the “condition itself is not timed in terms of its delivery” and that it was “standard practice for a range of conditions to be satisfied over time” – meaning it is not planned any time soon.
Ms Haylen said it was not good enough.
“The Minister for Planning made a clear promise to dedicate two lanes on Parramatta Road for public transport.
“Now, the State Government is unbelievably suggesting that the Sydney Metro West, a project that won’t be built for years, is somehow going to meet the conditions of consent for a road that opened weeks ago.
“This is yet another broken promise to communities along Parramatta Road, and is hardly a surprise from a government that will always put tolls roads before public transport.”