The first stage of the plan, which is expected to take 15 weeks, includes the removal of the Otho Street raised crossing and plane trees and the construction of a median strip.

No one claimed responsibility for organising the rally, with most protesters stating they had heard about it through social media. 

“I know I will get flak for speaking up, but someone has to,” Roslyn Hulbert from Babs Lorraine told the crowd. 

She said it was “marvellous” to see so many people turn up, and encouraged protesters to remain vocal on social and mainstream media.

“Our businesses are the hub of the town. We are the town. Not the council,” she said. 

“This is your town. This is your money. We all pay rates, and the council is wasting so much money.”

She said local businesses were suffering from a downturn of income, and could not afford the road closures required for the plan. 

Ms Hulbert said that if construction goes ahead, locals with mobility issues were welcome to use the back entrance of her store to access other Otho Street businesses.

Caroline Wilson raised concerns over the legitimacy of council processes leading up to construction.

“What was passed June 2014 was a concept plan. I’ve been told many times by people on council that that was just merely a plan. So that means that any step that’s actually passed - and this was passed in April last year - therefore must be open for submission, and be on display for at least 28 days. This has not taken place,” she said. 

Councillor Mal Peters attended, and told the crowd that he had voted against the proposal “the whole way through”.

“I’m concerned equally that this road, although it’s in Inverell Shire Council, it’s actually the Gwydir Highway, and as the Gwydir Highway, it’s a state road, which means the local council doesn’t have jurisdiction on it,” he said.

With prompting from Cr Peters, protesters agreed to a motion from Christine Hall, that they were opposed to the development going ahead.

A second motion was also passed, to ask the Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall to consider Otho Street’s status as an RMS road and look into halting construction. 

“I think the important message from this morning is that people power at the end of the day is what controls government,” Cr Peters said.

“These bloody governments have got a bad habit of thinking that they are an authority unto themselves, but at the end of the day, they are accountable to the people, and this type of action’s a great way to see how you send a message to them that in fact, you don’t like what’s going on.”

Former council director of technical services Greg Moran told protesters that the plane trees were planted according to the latest standards of the time. 

“These trees were planted in root barriers, exactly the same method as at the Olympic complex,” he said. Ms Wilson said that the pin oaks, which will be planted in the centre median, had shallow roots similar to plane trees, and would be placed in cells.

“Which is like a root barrier,” Mr Moran said. 

His wife, Sue Moran felt her husband’s character had been maligned.

“The mayor’s comment, saying that the chief engineer at the time, which was Greg, went against expert advice and planted the trees. It was actually a vote of the public, at a public meeting,” she said.

Mrs Hall said she attended the rally because she felt the plane trees had improved the streetscape since she and her husband had arrived in Inverell during the 1980s. 

“It was hot and concrete and the reflection of the sun on every hard surface. When they put these trees in, it’s just become a real asset to the town. And the thought of having them taken away – I think we should explore every avenue to maintain the trees and at the same time, make things safe for pedestrians,” she said.

She agreed with Mr Moran’s assertions that the raised crossing, which is a mandatory stopping point for traffic, provided safer passage for parents with prams and those with mobility issues. 

“I don’t see any reason to take those out. I don’t see how that would benefit anybody. It would actually be a loss to the community,” she said.

Mrs Hall was concerned about the lack of access to businesses during construction, noting that there was several healthcare services on Otho Street including two pathologists, diagnostic imaging and a surgery. 

“All of those attract patients who are not very mobile. To have this traffic disrupted and inhibited, is going to make life very difficult for those patients for quite some time,” she said.

Steve Auld said he felt that the council had not been successful in communicating the plan to the public.

“Council should actually invest not in websites and not in consultants, but in some of their members coming down the street at a rally like this, and quite simply saying to people with plans in hand ‘this will happen here, that will happen there,’” he said.

Diane Neville said she was there because she was against the removal of the plane trees.

“It looks so nice as it is. I don’t think there’s any need to cut them down,” she said.

“It’s a complete waste of money. There is so much of Inverell that needs (to be) done.”

Cr Peters said that he believed that Otho Street should be considered a state road, and as such, the council had not fulfilled the requirements to proceed with construction.

“My reading of the legislation is that council can’t proceed,” he said.

“Council are aware of that, so I will be very surprised if the council proceeds. And if they do, there’s going to be some very serious questions asked.”

“They have got to go to the state government on it and the state government has to authorise work to happen upon it. Now as I understand it, that hasn’t happened,” Cr Peters said.

He added that “people power at the end of the day is what controls government.”