Petition prompts Suffolk traffic lights rethink

The controversial decision to install traffic lights at Suffolk Park’s notorious Clifford Street intersection could be reversed within weeks, after Byron Shire councillors voted to put the option of a roundabout firmly back on the table.

After months of lobbying from residents on both sides of the issue, councillors voted last week to find out whether the $2.33 million road safety grant they secured to install traffic lights at the intersection could be used to fund a roundabout instead.

In doing so, they indicated that it was their intent to seek such a variation and pursue the roundabout option.

Should the funding authority, Transport for NSW, indicate that such a variation is possible, the decision to install the Shire’s first permanent traffic lights could be consigned to the dustbin of history at Council’s next meeting.

‘Given the level of frustration expressed by the community and our promise to do our best to listen, I’m opening up this opportunity for councillors to do that,’ Byron Mayor, Sarah Ndiaye, said in moving the key motion in relation to the issue at last week’s meeting.

‘We know, from the response, it [the traffic lights decision] hasn’t landed well.

‘We did all agree at the time [of the traffic light decision] that we would prefer a roundabout, and I guess this is an opportunity to see if that’s possible in a short period of time and get all of that information out in the public domain in a clear and transparent way.

‘I know it’s been a challenging issue. If we can buy a couple of weeks to get all of that info out into the public domain that would be great.’

The extended debate at last week’s meeting was characterised by participants from different sides making factual assertions that directly contradicted those of their opponents.

The key contested claim was whether the installation of a roundabout – either in full size or mini version – would be a better outcome in terms of pedestrian, cyclist, and driver safety than traffic lights.

‘Any beachside resident has stories of ridiculous delays, near misses, or unrecorded but real collisions,’ said local resident Liz Levy, a staunch supporter of the traffic lights option.

‘We are outraged by the anti-lights narrative. They tell us that there’s no real problem. Any infeasible, band-aid measure will do. [With the traffic lights] we finally have a solution that that the official advice says will deal effectively with the gridlock and dangerous righthand turns.

‘So what is the plan here? Because a grant variation won’t do it. We’ll have yet another roundabout application with no proven achievable path for achieving acquisition. More wishful thinking an ideology rather than sound administration.’

But David Fligelman from the Keep the Flow in Suffo group took a different view.

‘The process that has brought us to this point [of chosing traffic lights] has been deeply flawed, resulting in Council making the decision to accept a grant for signalisation based on limited information, virtually no community consultation and the false premise that it was traffic lights or nothing.

‘If this grant for $2.3m is accepted [for traffic lights] it’s the last we’ll have for this intersection – we’ll have to live with this for decades.

‘However, we’ve learnt that this grant specifically includes provision to be varied based on application to TFNSW and that means that there’s any opportunity to turn all of this around.’

Councillors voted to urgently write to Transport for NSW asking whether the deadline for the grant can be extended, as well as whether it can be varied to allow for the construction of a roundabout rather than lights.

Should the Sydney-based bureaucrats indicate that this is not an option, Council will be faced with an even more challenging dilemma – whether to pursue a largely unpopular traffic lights option, or to try and find funding for a roundabout solution or another interim measure.