More than 900 people have signed a petition demanding that Whittlesea council drop plans for a clearway in High Street, Thomastown.
Whittlesea south ward councillor Darryl Sinclair tabled the petition with the signatures of 814 residents and 114 non-Whittlesea residents at last week’s council meeting.
The push to stall the council’s traffic congestion solution was headed by Thomastown News & Lotto owner Vaikunth Gohil, who asked visitors to his newsagency to sign the petition if they were opposed to the clearway.
He said the introduction of a clearway between Settlement Road and the Lalor Safeway would greatly reduce High Street traders’ customer base.
“If you have a clearway and no parking, all my customers who currently stop and park in High Street will keep going,” he said.
Mr Gohil said a lack of parking and increasing congestion in the area were a growing concern.
“Traffic is building up because of the inconsistency of the traffic lights, which are not co-ordinated in any way,” he said.
One-hour parking limits are in place in front of most shops in High Street, but Mr Gohil said “there is little or no monitoring of these limits”.
Whittlesea infrastructure and technology director Greg Scott said concerns had been raised about traffic congestion in the area, prompting the council to prepare a report on the feasibility of “No Stopping” or clearway restrictions in afternoon peak hours along the western side of High Street, between Mahoneys Road, Thomastown, and O’Herns Road, Epping.
An independent traffic consultant has been contracted to conduct parking and traffic investigations along that section of High
Street.
VicRoads regional director of metro north west Patricia Liew said the road authority had not received any requests from Whittlesea council to implement a clearway along Thomastown’s High Street.
But she said if a request was forthcoming, “VicRoads will assess the suitability of a clearway or any other alternative measures to ease congestion once the request has been received”.
Mr Scott said no decision had been made.
