A meeting of residents at Fernhill Road on Tuesday (November 24) criticised a lack of communication from Port Macquarie-Hastings Council.

But the council says it is providing updates to the Port Macquarie Transport Network Community Consultative Committee.

Port Macquarie Better Orbital Options Alliance committee member Grant Mitchell said the Port Macquarie Transport Network Community Consultative Committee, in his opinion, was just a box ticking exercise.

He also spoke about residents' uncertainty and the "ever-present dark cloud" in their lives.

"As a group, we have been experiencing chronic stress for over two years, on top of world documented impacts caused by COVID-19, and we haven't heard a thing from council for 18 months," Mr Mitchell said.

He said the uncertainty for the future was debilitating, yet the silence from the council was deafening.

The council has moved into the strategic business case phase examining all options including the proposed controversial east-west link.

Read more:

The strategic business case is also examining planned traffic network improvements and upgrades to the existing road network.

The airport access road has been separated from orbital road project investigations.

Port Macquarie Better Orbital Options Alliance committee member Phil Lloyd said residents were at the meeting to acknowledge their third Christmas of stress and uncertainty.

The meeting heard the term "orbital road" was conspicuously absent from practically all Port Macquarie Transport Network Community Consultative Committee minutes and agendas.

Council's group manager infrastructure planning Cameron Hawkins told the Port News that a key outcome on earlier engagement was the community wanted to see an analysis of the whole of the Port Macquarie network at one time.

The proposed orbital road is one aspect of the future transport network planning.

Council director Dan Bylsma told the Port News that the strategic business case was looking at previous and current traffic modelling, and understanding the improvement options that may be available from a short, medium and long-term perspective.

The work kicked off in earnest in January 2020 and coincided with the Port Macquarie Transport Network Community Consultative Committee, which has six community and stakeholder representatives.

Mr Bylsma said there had been regular updates to the committee, which had met four times in 2020, including as recently as Monday (November 23).

There had been no tangible results from the strategic business case process yet, he said, and as outcomes became more evident, they could be shared more broadly with the community.

The council will review its approach, working with consultative committee members, in a bid to improve the consultation with the broader community.

The council is waiting on formal clarification from Transport for NSW about the intersections along the Oxley Highway corridor.

Meanwhile, John Tingle invited residents to reaffirm a vote of no confidence in the council passed during a community meeting in September 2019.

They did just that.

"Let's take that message to council again," Mr Tingle said.

What else is making news, sport?

Thank you for valuing local journalism with your subscription. While you're with us, you can also receive updates straight to your inbox from the Port Macquarie News. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, sign up here.