A KARABAR woman has labelled Council's ongoing public consultation period on the Ellerton Drive Extension (EDE) as "biased" after encountering a number of Council fact sheets and a 'community survey' heavily promoting the benefits of the road.
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Sheila Norman, a local occupational therapist, came across the pop-up information stalls at the Karabar Shopping Centre last week, and attempted to fill out Council's four-question, one-page community survey on the road. She said she was surprised the survey only asked what benefits the road would bring, with no questions about cost, noise issues or environmental factors.
"It's a biased survey and it's asking you questions like would you use it," she said. "If the roads there, you'd use it, but that doesn't mean it's the way to go.
"And they've asked what are the best things about it, but they haven't asked what are the problems with it."
The survey's four questions ask whether residents are in favour of the road or not, whether it will make travelling around Queanbeyan easier, whether residents will use the road or not, and what they see as the key benefits of the road, providing a small list of options including 'reduced congestion' and 'flood protection'.
Mrs Norman said she opposed the building of the road due to the environmental impact it would cause to local bushland. Left with only a small 'additional comments' section to express those concerns on the survey, she contacted The Queanbeyan Age in a bid to encourage other residents to participate in the current public consultation period on the road.
The Age asked Queanbeyan City Council this week why its survey wasn't more in-depth and only targeted the benefits of the road, however no comment was provided.
However a Council spokesperson said the pop-up information stalls at shopping centres were just one of a series of consultation methods currently being rolled out until the consultation period closes on February 9.
"Council's community consultation process for the proposed Ellerton Drive Extension is extensive and includes numerous information and pop-up information sessions at a variety of venues, online submissions, a dedicated phone line and email address, and printed forms available at the information and pop-up sessions," the spokesperson said.
Four public information sessions will also be held over the coming weeks, to be held on January 20 and February 3 at the RB Smith Community Centre in Crawford St, and on January 21 and 29 at the Jerrabomberra Community Centre.
However Mrs Norman said she felt the environmental impact of the road had been completely 'glossed over' in the consultation process.
"My understanding is there's 87 effected fauna species, and some of them are threatened. And their survey completely glosses over that," she said.
"There may be reduced congestion, but that doesn't mean it therefore should be done, because everything in life's a balance. And they've just put one side."
- You can view a copy of the Ellerton Drive community survey at pop-up information stalls at Riverside, Jerrabomberra and Karabar shopping centres. For more details on the EDE community consultation period, visit www.qcc.nsw.gov.au/Ellerton-Drive-Extension