As regular readers are most likely aware, bike paths (be they standard, separated or pop-up in nature) have occupied a significant amount of council and resident time during the past few years.
One could argue that, with both previous government departments and council decisions made to remove or defer bike lanes, this topic should remain off the radar for some time yet. (In making this statement we refer to the fact that the bike lane proposal was removed for the “Shrine to Sea” project – a Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action decision; and COPP’s advocacy to the Department of Transport to remove the unsafe pop-up infrastructure).
However, we feel that it is prudent to make RoPP members aware that at the 6 September council meeting, Cr Nyaguy spent a period of time asking council officers about bike lanes in the COPP area. This starts at 1:13:30 in the following link.
https://webcast.portphillip.vic.gov.au/archive/video23-0906.php
It remains clear to RoPP that certain councillors remain wedded to more bike lanes being installed and it will therefore be incumbent on the community to ensure that if or when council (or the government) proposes more bike infrastructure that it takes the time to properly consult with the community and the community responds appropriately – remembering that silence is taken as acceptance by government, even when you have not been asked to participate!
To our minds, “proper consultation” relates to, in advance seeking to understand what the community wants for transport infrastructure, where it may be best placed and what is the best format for it.
We have seen on multiple occasions that “consultation” takes the form of a few signs on telegraph poles with a QR code, random postcard letterbox drops, or one already needs to be signed up to an email list to ensure that you receive an invite to an event, that generally occurs with limited notice.
Hence we encourage residents, when speaking to councillors, to reinforce the fact that council, government and their staff need to do a much better job of alerting residents to what is being considered and use this as an opportunity to seek feedback.
As we have seen recently, mock consultation ended up by being perceived as a sham process that ultimately led to incredibly strong resident pushback against what was a flawed concept with poor and unsafe implementation.
Unfortunately the recent pop up and Kerferd Road bike lane issues have also now had the unintended consequence of fatiguing COPP residents on bike lanes and left many with a bitter taste in their mouths, automatically making it far more difficult for any new bike lane concept or proposal to be received with an open mind by residents.
