“There has been no deed authorised by RMS (Roads and Maritime Services) for council to commence the work. They’re still assessing their position,” general manager Paul Henry said.

“We’ve been given indications that they’re working diligently on the issues and they’ll be responding to us as soon as possible.”

“Unless you had the written permission to proceed, you shouldn’t have advised the community that you were proceeding,” said Councillor Mal Peters, who has been a vocal opponent of the plan from day one.

Mr Henry said the council had a letter signed from RMS “indicating that the proposal to install trees in the centre of Otho Street is acceptable and approved” in 2013. He said RMS had decided to revisit the council’s plan despite extensive consultation with a range of departments. 

Cr Peters said this wasn’t good enough.

“The council talked to the RMS about a concept plan, but there’s a lot of difference between a concept plan and the actual plan,” he said. 

Mr Henry said that the council began the process of obtaining a Section 138 approval and Works Authorisation Deed early last November. He said the RMS were aware of the intended start date and had indicated that “an approval mechanism would be in place”.

Cr Peters was also critical of the required community engagement process, which he felt wasn’t substantive enough. He said many business owners had told him they hadn’t been consulted.

“There seems to be an element of fear and intimidation if people do speak out, and I think that’s completely unacceptable,” he said.

Mr Henry disagreed, and said there was extensive consultation of the concept, including public meetings, the invitation of written submissions and displays in the CBD. 

On January 22, the council completed a review of environmental factors for part five of the Environmental Planning Assessment Act for the Otho Street works.

Cr Peters said the assessment, which rated 14 out of 16 factors as low impact, was “rubbish”. Only traffic/transport and noise/vibration were rated as medium. 

He was concerned about the economic impact, and said the council’s engineers were not qualified to make socioeconomic assessments. He said the low ratings meant the council had avoided doing “a proper” Environmental Impact Statement. 

“You can’t do a socioeconomic impact statement if you don’t go and talk to the businesses, and that hasn’t happened,” he said.

Mr Henry said the assessments were not limited to impacts during the 15-week construction phase, and considered longer-term outcomes once the plan was implemented.

“The extent of assessment for an activity is dictated by the provisions of the Act and associated regulations,” he said.

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