Residents celebrate roadblocks’ impending removal

SOME residents of The Quay and Quay 2 have hailed the Surf Coast Shire’s decison to soon take down the roadblocks in Torquay North, and held a small celebration on Sunday afternoon.

Between 20 and 25 people gathered in the park off Marine Drive during the event, organised by The Quay and Quay 2 developer Intrapac.

Quay resident Kerry Johnston said the initial reaction to the shire’s resolution on December 8 to take down the three barriers this month was excitement and relief.

“It’s separating our community, it’s inconvenient, it’s dangerous for all the other streets around. We’re not going to drive out to the highway to go to the beach… sadly, some people thought kids should be playing on the roads instead of cars driving on them.”

She said last week’s resolution by the council was the correction of a mistake.

“We got no notice – one or two days, for most people – that they were doing it, they didn’t speak with us or consult with us at all. I think the council was surprised at the opposition, and I think many councillors weren’t re-elected because of it.”

Quay 2 estate manager Adriana Falcone said the council’s decision meant the estate’s two communities could be joined together again.

“It’s nice to have the councillors and the new blood in, and they’ve understood what we were looking for in the community. We’ve always been community-driven and very close here, and it was actually nice to see that many people support what we were trying to do, so it was surprising but also quite pleasing.”

Surf Coast Shire councillors Paul Barker and Heather Wellington also attended Sunday’s event.

“From my perspective, after talking to people on both sides of the barriers, there’s overwhelming support for their removal,” Cr Barker said.

Councillors supported a recommendation to carry out a new traffic study and modelling for Torquay North, but went beyond the proposal to remove just the Inshore Drive barrier this month and instead voted to take down the Marine Drive and Glengarry Drive barriers as well.