Macedon Ranges Shire

The Macedon Ranges Shire Council had an opportunity to give its residents an enlightened road safety plan to enhance living in a rural setting and interacting with nature. Instead its plan continues to prioritise driver convenience above public and wildlife safety on rural roads close to shire towns.

Draft Local Community Laws 2023 seem to ignore impacts to residents and visitors of inappropriate driver speed on minor rural roads, local light planes, and inadequate weed and feral animal control.

The Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s Draft Rural Land Use Strategy fails to incorporate climate change abatement, carbon and biodiversity farming, and local food production as key issues for future landholders.

Wildlife road kills continue on minor rural roads west of Romsey which have a default 100km per hour maximum speed limit when the safe speed for wildlife, pedestrians and cyclists is less that 50km per hour.

The Romsey Structure Plan Options and Scenarios fail to account for their housing estates greenhouse production and the lost opportunity to sequester greenhouse gases and recover biodiversity with enlightened farm land use change around the town.

Shire town residents are increasingly using nearby minor rural roads for exercise and nature observation, it means a new era of vehicle speed restrictions is required to protect public safety.

The Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s draft Road Management Plan takes no account of increasing numbers of pedestrians on some minor rural roads and increased wildlife population on roadside verges and surrounding farm and public land. It provides no data on vehicle road maintenance diesel use and their greenhouse gas emissions trends.

Patrick Francis provides feedback to the Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s draft Roadside Conservation Management Plan.

Road kills of native animals are avoidable on minor rural roads in the Macedon Ranges and adjacent shires. To achieve this traffic speeds on these roads must be legally limited to a maximum of 40 km/hr.