Have received no response from Michael O'Brien to my email sent to him on the 6th of February.

David Smith of VicRoads rang in response to the letter, basically to say there is nothing that VicRoads can do. Their numbers show that there was a slight improvement. Do not believe this based on their past history. They promised to have the results by Christmas last but then sent a letter making the excuse that the weather prevented them completing their tests. Then they said that they would have them by end of January. Then the resident from Thornbury Crescent who was told by VicRoads that not previous testing was done! Can we believe anything VicRoads say?

Sent the following email to Michael O'Brien with a cc to Gary Liddle. Hope this speeds thing up.

We the residents next to the freeway in East Malvern are becoming fed up with VicRoads’ inactivity regarding the increased noise they have caused with their upgrade of the noise barriers.

We are yet to see the results of the noise testing which was carried out last year despite promises by VicRoads that they would be available by now.  In fact one resident was told by VicRoads that no testing was carried out beforehand!  How is this possible?

We have sent letters to Gary Liddle from numerous residents complaining about the increased noise and he has yet to have the courtesy to reply.  Instead we received one letter (which I sent to you on December 5^th 2012) from a Bruce Gidley which I regard as insulting.  VicRoads are treating us with contempt.

Why was so much public money spent by VicRoads on a system that has made the situation worse and is impacting on the residents’ quality of life?  Why are they now ignoring the feedback from the residents?  The whole way this matter has been handled by VicRoads suggests either incompetence or dare I say worse on their behalf.

We demand that VicRoads improve the situation or we will be forced to take the matter to the press and have it played out in public.

Met with David Smith this afternoon. Showed him the gaps in the barriers. He said that the results of the tests had shown that the noise had actually improved since the barriers had been upgraded. I do not believe him. We parted agreeing to disagree. I believe that VicRoads are just trying to jusify themselves with no evidence - they will make it up as they go along!

Received phone call from David smith regarding last Saturday's email. He suggested he come and speak to me and  have me show him the gaps which are still in the barriers.

Sent the following email to Michael O'Brien with a cc to David Smith if VicRoads. Have received no reply from Michael O'Brien.

Dear Michael,

Just to let you know that I received a telephone call from David Smith at VicRoads on Wednesday 16th  January. In that phone call he informed me among other things that remedial work on the upgraded barriers had been completed and all gaps had been filled.

I did a quick inspection of the barriers this morning and noticed that the gaps in the barriers still exist and some of the newly installed flashing had come unfixed leaving further gaps. Why are VicRoads telling us they did things when they plainly did not? Also, why are they happy with substandard workmanship?

Our complaints are genuine. Are VicRoads taking them seriously or only paying lip service to them?

We hope that you can assist because we as residents are becoming fed up with the noise and demand some immediate improvement.

He also informed me that the results of the noise measurement should be available next week.

Received phone call from David Smith of VicRoads this morning. He reported the following

• Remedial work on the upgraded barriers has been completed. This has included filling of gaps and moving dirt around. I have not noticed any difference and more importantly no improvement.
• VicRoads have spoken with the manufacturers of the new barriers and they are quite happy that the installation was done properly. I can only conclude from this that VicRoads has been had!
• Should get the results of the noise level testing in the next week (provided there are no hold ups e.g. the weather). I will bet now what the results of the test will be - no action will be taken by VicRoads!

Told him once more that we are not happy with the work and want it fixed.