Health versus Roads
Tuesday 5 October 2004
A Sydney newspaper article reveals a piece of single-minded planning.
The NSW Roads and Traffic Authority is proposing to build a motorway tunnel that will take land from parks and open space. But the state’s chief health officer has warned:
Considering the impact of the proposal on physical activity, health impacts of reduced physical activity, such as obesity, should be addressed.
No, no, says the boss of planning:
We … have to stop wasting money on studies and investigations that bear no proof in respect of sound land use planning.
Now, unless we’re planning to walk on it [the M4 east], I cannot understand what value that [an obesity study] will have but it will cost $3 million.
Good thinking?