By Colin MacGillivray
Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland wasted no time in putting the Kilmore Bypass front and centre at state parliament, raising it on the first sitting day on Thursday.
However, Kilmore and District Residents and Ratepayers Association, KADRRA, president Vyvienne Whitehurst fears Ms Cleeland is encountering the same roadblocks that frustrated her predecessor Steph Ryan as she pleads on behalf of the community for the State Government to build a Kilmore bypass.
Ms Cleeland last week addressed Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne during her maiden parliamentary speech, seeking an official briefing from the Department of Transport on the status of the bypass.
She said while the State Government committed $20 million to acquire land for the bypass in its 2018 budget, only two blocks were acquired as of June last year, with the acquisition process now not expected to be complete until the middle of 2024.
Ms Cleeland said the Kilmore community had the right to know the status of the project.
“I’ve asked the minister to detail the land which has been acquired, as I worry there have been further delays and distractions by a government obsessed with neglecting residents outside Melbourne,” she said.
“It is baffling the government has still not completed any of the costings for a completed bypass. I’ve asked the minister to be honest as to whether this work has been done and what the total cost will be.”
The minister must provide a written response to Ms Cleeland’s questions within a month.
“The Kilmore community has put up with eight years of delay on the bypass with patience on the ground in very short supply,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Originally land acquisition was expected to be completed in just a couple of months’ time and now mid-2024 is the best we can hope for.
“With the budget coming up later this year, I want the government to be honest, provide an official update, explain the delays and provide clarity to the frustrated and fatigued residents of Kilmore.”
Ms Whitehurst described progress on the bypass as ‘non-existent’ despite a series of public forums on the matter organised by Mitchell Shire Council.
She said while KADRRA had encouraged Ms Cleeland to continue pressuring the government to progress the bypass, she had limited leverage as an opposition member.
“Annabelle has obviously taken it to the minister and to parliament again, and her predecessor did that about 26 times. It’s not making a difference,” Ms Whitehurst said.
“I don’t know what the answer is. One would assume the State Government is just not interested. The ones making the decisions don’t live here and don’t have to go up and down the main street.
“I don’t know what we can do, because we can’t force anybody’s hand.
“Unless somebody gets killed there I don’t think [the State Government] is even going to bring it up, and I think it’s really sad that it has to go to that length.”
Ms Whitehurst said a lack of progress on a roundabout at the intersection of the Northern Highway and Wandong Road – set to serve as the southern terminus of the bypass and announced in November 2020 – was equally frustrating.
Ms Cleeland said continued inaction on the bypass was harming the liveability of Kilmore.
“We have one of Victoria’s most historically significant towns crumbling because of this inaction,” she said.
“The bypass has stalled, not because of a lack of funding or a difficult planning process, purely due to a lack of willpower from the government.
“The bypass is my number one priority for Kilmore and I will be fervently holding the government to account.”
Well the council have made it significantly harder for truck to travel through Kilmore now