COUNCILLOR Helen Leach says she is livid her colleagues decided to prioritise new infrastructure for cyclists when some of her constituents don’t even have a footpath.  

The representative of Eppalock Ward was the only to vote against City of Greater Bendigo’s transport future blueprint at the council meeting last week. 

“When I saw one of plans of action within five years was protected bike lanes, I saw red,” she told the Bendigo Advertiser.  

“In Marnie Road, Strathdale, there’s a lady who has to walk on the road with her disabled daughter to get to a bus stop – people there have been waiting since 1999 for a footpath.

“Roads and footpaths are our responsibility and we should be putting more money towards them, that will make people much happier.”

Council’s Integrated Transport and Land Use Strategy (ITLUS) is a long term plan to accommodate future population growth by maintaining current urban boundaries and increasing investment in public transport.

But Cr Leach has told her colleagues they need to do a lot more legwork before calling on Bendigonians to walk, cycle and catch public transport more often.

“It was mixed because, on one hand, I see a need to plan for the future for transport and land use and it would be silly to suggest we don’t need to place this as a main objective… but I question the short term priorities,” she said. 

“Also a lot of our electorate are rural and country towns and it isn’t realistic to think Public Transport Victoria are going to cover the whole area, so roads and footpaths need to be adequate, especially in rural areas where public transport is not realistically an option.”

Cr Leach also questioned a key component in the travel plan – encouraging school students to walk, ride or scoot to school.

“Of course you want kids riding and walking but if you look at a school like Strathfieldsaye, there is a lot of parents who think that Wellington Street is quite unsafe and want to drive their kids to school,” she said.  

“Cars aren’t going to be replaced anytime soon, buses today are not convenient… Bendigo isn’t like Melbourne where you can hop on tram and hop off a few blocks later.” ​