The ‘ongoing saga over the notorious intersection at Clifford Street, Suffolk Park’ continues with plans to source ‘more funding opportunities’ to further inquire into roundabout treatment.
In the meantime, ‘risks are increasing as traffic volumes grow, reinforcing the need for a timely and effective safety treatment.’
So it is disappointing that, after 30 years, we are still seeing the issue ‘kicked down the road’ again on this endless merry-go-round.
Government funding for land acquisition is not going to happen. So who is going to pay if a ‘compact’ roundabout on a sub-arterial road is rejected by Transport for NSW (TfNSW)?
A question was put to the representative of ‘Keep the Flow in Suffo’ at the most recent Council meeting – a chemical engineer based in Bangalow who does not live in beachside Suffolk Park. Councillor Pugh queried his attitude if a modified roundabout or some other model was refused by TfNSW – would traffic lights then be acceptable?
This question has been put to his group before in an earlier Council meeting. It was unanswered, again.
Clearly ‘Keep the Flow in Suffo’ prefers ‘doing nothing’ to ‘lights’. Which is not addressing the problem for vulnerable road users in Suffolk Park at this black spot.
‘We don’t support spending grant money on a sub-standard option simply because the money is there’. Really?
Council’s decision-making in this context simply does not make sense.
Advocacy, and opposing poor ‘planning’ is indeed exhausting to the public, and I do have better things to do.
However, it needs to be pointed out that the Council has a duty of care. It will be more than ‘uncomfortable’ if people are seriously injured or killed at this intersection, not to mention interesting, with potential litigation in court when Council had the power to avert such a tragedy with funding supporting ‘timely and effective’ action.
May it never come to this, but the risk is there. As it is with the chaos of a mass evacuation from beachside Suffolk Park if we need to get out urgently.
Thank you to Councillors Pugh and Swain for support of the first recommendation which would have provided a solution while we wait indefinitely for the magic roundabout that has not appeared. Keep the Flow avowed to roll up their sleeves and get it done. It was handballed back to the SPPA by a key stakeholder. So we keep waiting, again. It is hard to contain my disgust as well as utter despair with this situation.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
