Westville ward meeting sheds light on pressing issues

THE problematic Essex Terrace interchange upgrade affecting Westville residents topped the agenda at a community meeting.

Ward 30 councillor, Warren Burne, held the meeting in Westville last week to discuss pressing issues residents were unhappy about.

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Topics on the agenda included the M13/ Essex Terrace Interchange upgrade and street lighting.

According to Burne, construction work had stopped for about a month due to disruptions from the Chesterville Taxi Association and it is alleged the association halted work claiming that it slows down their work and caused delays on trips through the area.

Burne also alluded that a labour dispute led to the workers downing tools and has resulted in the upgrade operating a month behind schedule. Even though the upgrade is back on track, residents were unhappy with how the rock-blasting incident was handled.

According to Burne, construction workers unexpectedly found hard rock that needed blasting immediately.

“The contractors wrote a short letter notifying the nearby residents of the blast with very short notice, some residents said the blasting lasted longer than was expected,” Burne added.

Traffic calming measures are expected to be installed on the road to curb the number of accidents.

“Speed humps will be installed along the Devon Terrace to control the speed during the construction work and the rest of the speed humps will be installed towards the end of the project,” he said.

A resident suggested that Metro police be visible during peak hour traffic to control the flow of traffic, but Burne said that it is unlikely for that to be possible as Metro police are already dealing with issues like land-grabs and hot spot crime areas.

“I will definitely make a request for patrollers even though I doubt any will be dispatched to the area,” he said.

On the issue of faulty street lights, Burne urged residents who had reported faulty street lights in the past to lodge complaints again as a new contractor has been appointed.

“For a long time the city didn’t have a contractor appointed to fix faulty street lights around the municipality,” he said.

Other issues on the table were domestic refuse collection and orange bags, grass and verge cutting and the municipal budget.

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