Although I had many powerful and overwhelming feelings in the minutes following this bombshell, I would like to share three of them.

1. Incredulous laughter–how many hoops did we have to jump through to get our house plans approved by the shire, only to now be told they are proposing a major road at the end of my garden?

(Answer: lots)

2. Red-faced anger–in a country the size of Australia, in a country town, how can it be sensible to plan a major road through a relatively densely populated area?

Isn’t the whole idea of a bypass to bypass a town not create more roads that plough straight through it?

Surely the process of town planning should plan major routes such as this in the planning stages of a town site, not after it has been established?

3. Squashed–our garden is very small, but that’s okay we thought, it backs onto the greenway, we have that to look at and the kids will have a ball.

Daniel Rome

Margaret River