Residents of a quiet Sunbury street say more than 600 trucks are travelling along their road daily – and they have had enough.
Residents have started an Instagram campaign to showcase the daily struggles of living on Canterbury Avenue.
Resident Megan, who did not want her surname published due to safety reasons, has been tracking the number of trucks passing by her house daily and said it is more than 600 per day.
“For the last six months, we’ve been having hundreds and hundreds of large vehicles coming down our street,” she said.
“These trucks are going and dumping their loads on a private property that is being accessed from the dead end of our street.”
Hume council confirmed the property in question is 370 Riddell Road, Sunbury.
Megan said the truck movements have been a constant disruption to residents’ daily lives, adding that they no longer feeling safe walking down the street as the narrow road was not built for a large volume of traffic.
“The noise is just endless,” Megan said.
“My husband works from home and you can’t talk on the phone properly because it’s from 7am until 5 o’clock on the dot.
“There’s dust absolutely everywhere … the cars are covered in dust, they’re getting dented from rocks.”
She said the trucks were mostly double trailer trucks and full of dirt and rocks.
Megan said residents have made reports to Environment Protection Authority (EPA) Victoria, which confirmed receiving the reports and is liaising with council on the issue.
Megan said herself and other residents have also made complaints to council.
In a statement, council said its planning investigations team was looking into the activity at 370 Riddell Road.
“The landowner has advised that the works are related to farming, which would be exempt from a planning permit requirement,” the statement said.
“We are concerned that the scale of activity goes beyond what would be expected for agricultural use and we are actively pursuing this.”
The statement also clarified that the truck movements were not associated with two properties on Riddell Road that are currently subject to Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), being 370a and 430.
Council said residents should report excessive truck movements and unsafe activity to police.
Canterbury Avenue residents took their complaints to public question time at the September 8 council meeting, with 17 questions about the issue asked by nine residents.
Questions related to the legality of the works, if council authorised these works, public safety and what council could do to reduce the number of trucks, including the implementation of a truck ban.
In response council’s city planning and places acting director James McNulty said no works at 370 Riddell Road had been authorised by council.
“We have a number of actions on foot and are in regular discussions with key regulators including Victoria Police. Council officers have also undertaken a number of site visits as a part of our ongoing investigations,” he said.
Mr McNulty said while it is being investigated, resolving the issue will take time, which is no comfort to Megan and other residents.
“I feel like we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place and no one really wants to even look into any of this and to try and help us,” Megan said.
