At the outset I would note that I object to the need for this project at all on the basis that the investment case does not make sense economically or environmentally. I do not have any confidence in the traffic number modelling or the emphasis on enabling and encouraging greater use of environmentally unsustainable transport options. It seems to me that our community (not just the Northern Beaches) would benefit more if the money was invested in health, education and community services.

If the tunnel does indeed proceed then I also object to the impact it is having on the local areas, particularly at the ends of the tunnel, but also to our harbour.

The construction process itself will be incredibly disruptive to the area with noise pollution and major impacts on daily activities for a very long and sustained period. Some children at the local schools will spend their whole time at the school working around a construction site with all the disruption that comes with it (Balgowlah Boys in particular).
A generation of young sailors will not be able to pursue their sport from Northbridge Sailing Club. Experience suggests that, despite the proposed measures, there will be damage to local river systems and the wider ecosystem from water run off and other forms of pollution

Once completed the tunnel will leave a lasting legacy which will need further actions to address. The traffic problem will not be solved, but will merely be moved to points further up the beaches road corridors (Manly Vale, Brookvale, Forestville etc). We will have permanently lost bushland and recreational areas to multilane, pollution emitting and noisy road corridors. The main issue here is the expansion of Wakehurst Parkway, but the impacts on Burnt Bridge Creek are severe. Our native wildlife do not have a say in this process but the world they live in is dying a death of a thousand cuts.

I would like to leave my children and my children's children a legacy we can be proud of. I do not believe this project will do this given the beneficiaries are a small number of already privileged people living on Sydney's Northern Beaches. Spending $15B for a marginal "improvement" to transport arrangements for 250,000 people just does not add up for me purely on a financial and equity basis, and that is before taking into account environmental and health impacts. I am one of those people and I cannot rationalise such an investment.

Stop killing all of the trees. The wildlife has nowhere to live. I live here because it's green and I like to interact with the wildlife. You are destroying their habitat to save a couple of minutes travel time!!!! Shame on you. Promote public transport instead. Oh wait. You sold everything..

Hi,

I have numerous objections to this project. Firstly from a residents perspective:
- Pollution generated during the execution of the project (air, noise, run off etc)
- 5 to 7 years of manic Traffic congestion
- Local Parking chaos created by project staff driving their cars to site
- Disruption to public transport routes in our area
- Damage to local roads by the trucks
- Loss of mountain bike trails and increased danger to cyclists
- Loss of Balgowlah golf coarse
- Loss of our local community identity
- Risk of damage to local aboriginal rock carvings

That being said, I do understand that improve transport is required, to the Northern Beach. So, my biggest objection relates building more roads, which only encourage more cars onto the roads.

This project flies in the face of our countries commitment to lower carbon emissions. I understand the NSW Governments drive for creating jobs; but this money could be better spent on a train line, that would help to reduce the number of cars on the road.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Ford

See attached PDF

I object to the proposal based on several factors.

The project seeks to steal premium and vital green space from the Cammeray and Lower North Shore communities and sell it to a private toll road. This is completely unethical and obscene. The reduction of green space at the Cammeray Golf Course, and indeed the Balgowlah Golf Course is not supportable. Golf is the 10th most popular sport in NSW and it is not supportable to destroy these communities and deny future and present generations from accessing these egalitarian and affordable courses. Golf provides so many people of all ages and abilities the chance to intermingle, to play a sport and exercise, and to improve their mental and physical wellbeing. One of best things about living in Australia is affordable and equitable access to facilities, sports and nature. It is simply unsupportable for the State government to undermine our society by taking away our public golf courses. Once this green space is removed from the public domain, it can never be returned. If the state government wants to sell land to a private developer/operator, such as a toll road operator, it should force the development of already developed land rather than eating into public green space that is so vital to our mental and physical wellbeing. The flippant line that appeared in the Western Harbour Tunnel determination that Cammeray Golf Club would undertake a "masterplanning exercise" is insulting to our local community - we must retain this green space not "masterplan" the patch of grass that remains, that will be too small on which to fit more than a pitch and putt. What remains of the course will not even be suitable as a practice facility as the community will not allow the light spill that this would require for a successful operation.

I also object to the new toll road on the basis that the benefits that it claims to deliver are underwhelming and not backed up by current data. A reduction of traffic by 10% along Military Road is based on pre-COVID-19 traffic and these investigations should be recalculated based on current population and trip data. Recent experience in Sydney has shown that toll roads in fact increase traffic in local areas. In the face of climbing costs of living, we can not afford more toll roads. Furthermore, the huge impacts on our local environment are not outweighed by the paltry outcome that the project seeks to deliver. Improvements to public transport have not been considered and the EIS does not consider glaringly obvious and cheaper alternatives such as light rail, rail or improved bus routes. A mass transit solution between Chatswood and Dee Why would be a much more sensible project to undertake. It is ludicrous for the state goverment to plan to spend billions of our tax dollars on forcing more cars onto already stretched northern beaches roads. The roads in the northern beaches are already at capacity, especially on weekends - where are all these private cars to go once they arrive at Balgowlah? Surely it makes more sense to invest in public transport to the area?

I object to the project based in its impacts on both Middle Harbour and on Flat Rock Gully. To dump 153,000 cubic metres of contaminated sediment from Middle Harbour in an undisclosed and unmanaged site in the sea is dangerous and ill concieved. It will compromise the health of all users of the harbour - swimmers, anglers, surfers and boaters. During the years of construction, people will not be able to swim in our harbour beaches without the threat of being poisoned by heavy metals.

A High level of risk has been identified around the Warringah Freeway of serious contaminants entering the area and also at the Cammeray Mega Construction site. The testing results have not been published and the risk is radically under-assessed given the sensitive users of the area, of all ages. Meanwhile Flat Rock Creek and Burnt Bridge Creeks will have their flows diverted and thousands of litres of wastewater flushed down them daily, a tip site in amongst the best attended sports fields in the area will be opened up to risks over a five year period. Dozens of threatened species will be put at risk. The loss of 3000 trees will impact our birdlife, which is already struggling. Chopping down old trees, even if those trees are replaced elsewhere, destroys essential habitat and kills our animal life. Our animals are more important than carrying through with this project. The project leans on offsetting the loss of habitat or replacing it; this has been shown time and time again to not work. We need to retain what habitat and nature that we have.

Sports groups, especially golfers (both social and club), cycling groups, community groups, schools, water sports groups, bush walking and even places of worship will be heavily impacted by this project. Issues range from contamination of local parks, to high noise levels, dust, worker parking issues, almost 5000 construction movements daily, impacts to Flat Rock and Middle Harbour and long term roads changes. These issues will compound the impacts already being experienced from the Western Harbour and Warringah Freeway build (2021-2026). The five years of construction works for the Beaches Link (2023-2028) will end with two additional unfiltered pollution stacks in our area and no local access points - the only access is via Artarmon or Berry St North Sydney. The determination for the Western Harbour Tunnel admitted that there are no benefits to our local community; this project will further impact our environment and way of life to an unacceptable level, for negligable outcomes for anyone else either. The rat running required to access these points will simply exacerbate local traffic issues at both ends of the project.

I am a resident of Clontarf and have lived on the northern beaches for 55 years, in Forestville, Clontarf and Manly. I am also a practicing architect.
I sincerely hope my objections are taken on board as I believe I have the personal and professional experience to understand that the proposed Beaches Link Tunnel has the potential to cause damage to the northern beaches both environmentally and in terms of quality of living with no economic benefits or real solutions to long term congestion.

I object to the Beaches Link Tunnel on the basis of misuse of public funds. The Northern Beaches is already attached to the city with minimal traffic and delays. Studies have shown consistently that adding bypass tunnels or widening roads will lead to a decongestion for 1-2 years after project completion, and after 3 years the effects will no longer be noticeable. This project will cause 5-7 years of delays, costing and estimated $14 billion in construction, in exchange for only a year or two of increased speeds. The project is already at a negative value before the environmental and social impacts of falling groundwater and a tall unfiltered smokestack are taken into consideration. These funds could be spent in other areas, improved public transport infrastructure is consistently reported to decrease traffic, and can be more easily distrubted over areas suffering from more immediate traffic issues.

To whom it may concern,
I wish to lodge my objections to the beaches link tunnel for the following reasons:
1. the EIS doesn't reflect changes as a result of covid, with much less dependency on peak hour traffic - is there scope to rewrite the EIS to reflect changing patterns. The plans for the tunnel are less than 50% complete which means the full impact of the project is still unknown
2. there is no concession given to public transport - how does building the tunnel assist the government with their environmental policies, it is essentially encouraging more people to drive cars
3. pollution from unfiltered stacks in areas of high concentration of schools and housing - cities such as London are trying to clean up why is Sydney going the other way?
4. why does the project use public money to build the tunnel/road then make it a private toll road, doesn't that mean that for those who helped fund there is a high likelyhood they won't be able to afford it?
5. the primary dig site at flat rock gully is unsuitable as it will entail digging through layers of contaminated substances releasing noxious fumes and contribute to unacceptable levels of air, noise and traffic pollution. Flat rock is also home to many protected and endangered species
6. loss of green spaces - this project doesn't align with the governments 'open space' initiative/policy
7. dredging of middle harbour which is known to have toxic sediment impacting on our waterways, where our children learn to swim and sail
8. with covid impacting on immigration numbers, is the city still expected to grow at the rate initially predicted, if feels like there is time to reconsider looking at improving existing road and improving public transport an essential component in every major city other than Sydney
Lastly I strongly oppose the cost of the project, particularly given the world has changed substantially in the last 12 mths. This project does not have the best interest of those in the community at heart.