Residents living in a suburb nicknamed ‘the island’ are threatening a mass exodus as they have to drive half an hour in the wrong direction just to get out of their neighbourhood.
Thornhill Park development, is just 40km from Melbourne’s outskirts, but homeowners must drive west and do a 30-minute u-turn before they reach the citybound lane on the freeway.
Many who bought homes in the new suburb believed an overpass and flyover would be built by late 2018, allowing quick access to the east-bound lanes of the western freeway.
But five years after families began moving in the overpass and flyover haven’t been started.
Angry residents from a new Australian suburb have had enough after it was revealed they have to drive half an hour in the wrong direction just to get out of their neighbourhood.
Angry mums at Thornhill Park west of Melbourne say the suburb they were promised hasn’t materialised and some are threatening to sell up and leave
Resident Matt Pearse told Daily Mail Australia in morning traffic heading west to reach the citybound lanes ‘can add 20-30 minutes unfortunately very easily’ to a commute.
On a good morning the lack of an overpass adds 15 minutes to the commute and the worst he’s experienced was nearly an hour to get out of the suburb.
The new area still has so many problems it has earned several unflattering nicknames from ‘the island’ to ‘ThornHell Park’.
Despite recently being given its own postcode, 3335, Thornhill Park still has no schools, town centre, train station or timetabled bus service, Mr Pearse, who bought a block in 2016, said.
It also has no shopping centre, supermarkets, childcare centre, doctor or chemist and promised sporting fields and wetlands have not yet materialised, though many of these have commenced.
Mr Pearse said the 7,000 people who live there need to drive west on the freeway to reach any major shops.
Several residents are now threatening to sell up and leave the new suburb, which was envisaged to cater for 20,000 new residents
That means at best 25 minutes driving just to do some basic shopping.
One resident posted a photo of building site fencing blocking a pathway that is supposed to be a walking track beside the unfinished wetlands.
‘Just trying to take my dog for a walk,’ the post was titled.
Although a train station featured in glossy marketing material in 2016, the Victorian state government now claims it never promised to build one, A Current Affair reported.
Several residents are now threatening to sell up and leave the new suburb, which was envisaged to cater for 20,000 new residents.
‘I’ve been here for nearly five years and nothing’s been done [about the overpass],’ one unnamed mum said.
‘Things need to change and they need to change real quick cos there’s gonna be a mass exodus if its doesn’t people are just gonna sell up and go,’ she said.
One resident posted a photo of a path blocked by building site fencing when she tried to walk her dog
Mr Pearse said Thornhill Park is ‘not all doom and gloom’.
‘We have beautiful parks and areas, just half-started but not been completed for a long time.’
Former AFL footballer and founder of Wel.Co Andrew Welsh said the lack of government-led infrastructure was not keeping up with the growth in the area.
‘As a developer, we continue to pay tens of millions of dollars in contributions to government infrastructure items, that are not delivered in the timeframe the community needs them.’
A Victorian Government spokesperson said they were investing in major projects to keep locals moving while also planning for the future.
‘The brand new Cobblebank train station is a short distance from Thornhill Park Estate, and thanks to the Ballarat Line Upgrade there’s hundreds more trains each week, arriving every 20 minutes during the peak.
‘We will continue to work closely with the Department of Transport, local councils and the community to ensure the transport network meets the needs of the growing community.’
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