The Minister for Planning, the Hon Richard Wynne, released his Assessment of the environmental effects of the West Gate Tunnel Project on 27 November 2017. He released the IAC’s report at the same time.

The Minister’s assessment is the final step in the EES process under the Environment Effects Act.

For more information about the assessment of the West Gate Tunnel’s environmental impacts see the Victorian Government’s environmental assessment website.

The Minister for Planning appointed an independent Inquiry and Advisory Committee (IAC) to consider the Environment Effects Statement (EES), a draft Planning Scheme Amendment and public submissions to the project.

The IAC held a public hearing between Monday 14 August and Tuesday 19 September 2017.

The IAC public hearing timetable, documentation tabled at the hearing, and expert witness statements from all parties are available on the Victorian Government’s community engagement portal.

An Environment Effects Statement (EES), which assesses the environmental, social and planning impacts of the project, and a Planning Scheme Amendment for the project was publicly exhibited by the West Gate Tunnel Authority (formerly the Western Distributor Authority) between Monday 29 May and Monday 10 July 2017.

The City of Melbourne submission on the EES was endorsed by Councillors on 4 July 2017 at the Future Melbourne Committee Meeting.

We undertook community engagement before making our submission, including an information evening on Thursday 8 June 2017 and an online survey. The feedback received during our engagement was appended to our formal submission.

The City of Melbourne submission identified a number of concerns relating to the impact of the project and the preparation of the EES.

The City of Melbourne submission opposed several aspects of the current design of the project, including:

• The connection to Dynon Road.
• The extension and widening of Wurundjeri Way.
• The elevated tollway structure along Footscray Road in combination with the retention of existing at-grade traffic lanes.
• The design and siting of the Maribyrnong River crossing and MacKenzie Road connections.
• The design of the veloway.

The submission also identified that the City of Melbourne has a number of concerns about the design and performance of the shared paths, including the proposed veloway, as well as concerns about the connections to Appleton Dock Road, Footscray Road and CityLink.

The City of Melbourne was represented at the IAC hearing and called expert witnesses in urban design, open space and landscape, surface noise, and transport to support its case.