Author: admin

Dear candidates for Lord Mayor and candidates for Councillor for the Gabba Ward in the Brisbane City Council elections, March 2016,

The Residents of the Little Streets East of Montague Road West End (13 streets who have determined to work together) are requesting that you consider:

A new Local Area Traffic Management Plan (LATM) and improvements to be funded in Council’s Budget, Program 2 - Moving Brisbane, over the next four years to address ‘rat running’, congestion, speeding, safety, parking management, asset damage and loss of amenity issues in the Little Streets east of Montague Road, West End.

In 2009 the South Brisbane Riverside Neighbourhood Plan allowed for the dramatic increase in dwellings west of Montague Road. Thousands of high-density residential dwellings are now being built, along with new businesses to service the increased population. This has resulted in safety, amenity, and parking issues, and use of neighbourhood streets for inter urban transit resulting in significant damage to Council assets and loss of amenity for residents. Improvements to the traffic network such as the duplication of  lanes on Montague Road are not likely to happen (as it requires land dedications through development) in the life of the Neighbourhood Plan. The reliance on the Little Streets to take traffic from new development west of Montague Road is not acceptable or sustainable. Solutions are required now.

In 2014 and 2015 well-attended community meetings were held and a community group has formed to discuss issues and to suggest solutions. Representatives of Little Streets met with Council officers and on 21 October 2015 and a traffic study was completed. This study provides useful baseline data however the focus on traffic volume, rather than outcomes of traffic behaviour (speeding, illegal parking, reduced pedestrian safety, and asset damage) does not reveal the issues of the ‘lived experience’ of residents. Real time data of traffic queuing on Montague Road and the wider network is available on the internet/Google Maps (by tracking of mobile devices) and the impact this congestion has on rat running in Little Streets can be shown.

Little Streets is a residents’ community group who are working group under the West End Community Association and has no political affiliations. We are active in the local community, communicate regularly, have a significant database of contacts, and have a well-represented and active Facebook page. Members regularly communicate on traffic issues with Council, Councillors, developers and their contractors and report issues. Little Streets have come together to request an integrated solution.

A new Local Area Traffic Management (LATM) plan funded in the Council Budget – Program 2 – Moving Brisbane is required that discourages non-local traffic, moderates vehicles speeds, and provides a safe environment for pedestrians, cyclists and residents in the Little Streets.

A clear demarcation of the threshold between the high-density development west of Montague Road and the low-density character Little Streets to the east is required. From a road hierarchy perspective, threshold treatments are required to indicate to motorists that they are entering a lower order street where the speed limit is lower, direct property access is more prevalent and shared use of the road by pedestrians and cyclists is encouraged.

Little Streets are a constructive group and are mindful of integrated, feasible solutions and have proposed short-term cost effective ‘lines and signs’ solutions, better enforcement of traffic conditions on new development and longer-term hard infrastructure solutions. Little Streets issues and solutions are outlined in clusters of streets in the attachment.  

Each cluster of Little Streets is prepared to formally petition Council, however, in the interests of efficiency and integration, in the first instance, this submission simply requests a new LATM including funded and phased solutions in the 2016 and forward years Council Budget, Program 2, Moving Brisbane to address the impacts created by the South Brisbane Riverside Neighbourhood Plan density increases on the Little Streets east of Montague Road, West End.

Would you kindly provide a response to this submission by 14 March? If elected, a further response is also requested prior to the finalisation of your Council budget in June 2016.

Thank you for your consideration.

Little Streets (East of Montague Road, West End) Committee 

Please see Attachment for this cover letter and a submission for:
Ashington, Skinner, Victoria Streets Cluster
Drake Street Cluster
Crowther, Archibald, Brady, Harriett, Edgar Streets Cluster
Mitchell, Ida, Rogers, Raven Streets Cluster