Liverpool City Council has put forward a smarter, faster and more responsible solution to the long-running Fifteenth Avenue corridor challenge:  one that saves taxpayers billions and protects 90 local families from having their houses resumed.

It will also save the Federal Government from breaking an election promise.

“This is not about party politics, it’s about people,” Mayor Mannoun said.  “We are calling on both the State and Federal governments to put aside differences of political opinion and do it once and do it right for the residents of Austral, West Hoxton, Middleton Grange and wider Western Sydney.”

“No family should lose their home because of a design that we already know is flawed and short-sighted.”

“We have a solution that saves money, protects homes, and delivers better infrastructure. The only question now is whether governments are prepared to listen.”

The current State and Federal plan – promised before the last federal election – is shaping up to be a $2.5 billion project that means Austral households lose their homes, triggers widespread land resumptions, and delivers an outcome that risks being outdated almost as soon as it opens.

It will also restrict housing growth by not providing a designated public transport corridor.

Stage One, the only part currently defined, provides only two lanes in each direction, with no dedicated public transport corridor. Stage Two adds a two-lane public transport corridor that means some 90 houses will be resumed.

Council’s modelling shows this approach will be under significant pressure within a decade. In other words, we are on track to spend billions building a road we already know will fail, Mayor Mannoun said

“The current Stage One proposal is effectively an 70km highway ripping through the community that excludes any dedicated public transport lanes. With high speed comes unnecessarily large, gold plated design,” he said.

Liverpool City Council’s engineering and planning team has developed an alternative that integrates the road into the community and provides a public transport transit lane. Adopting this design would save the Federal Government from breaking its promise and deliver a better outcome for the residents of Austral and all those wanting to get to and from Western Sydney International Airport.

For an additional investment of approximately $250 million (only 17 per cent of the overall cost) the Liverpool Council plan will:

• future-proof the corridor,
• save 90 brand new homes form resumption,
• save around $1 billion dollars and
• deliver a public transport spine that meets the needs of a rapidly growing region.

Most importantly, it prevents the need for costly retrofits, duplication of infrastructure, and further disruption to the community down the track:  saving State and Federal governments billions.

“This is a classic case of doing it once and doing it right,” Mayor Mannoun said. “We can avoid the pain, we can avoid the delay, and we can deliver public transport infrastructure to Western Sydney.”

“Western Sydney cannot afford another decade of stop-start planning and political point scoring,” Mayor Mannoun said.

“Fifteenth Avenue is not just a road. It is the spine connecting Liverpool to the Western Sydney International Airport and the emerging Bradfield city. The decisions we make now will shape this region for decades.

“Council is ready to work with both levels of government to deliver a better outcome.  One that protects residents, respects taxpayers, and builds the infrastructure our growing communities actually need,” he said.