Albury councillors and staff were praised for their efforts to gather feedback on the Thurgoona-Wirlinga Precinct Structure Plan at the plaza.

Hayley Ferguson, who is building in Somerset Rise, shared with planning staff her doctor had recommended she be induced last year.

“With my third child I had a 29-minute labour, so when I was having my fourth, they were worried about the baby coming quick, and if it was school time, me possibly waiting in traffic,” she said.

“I was recommended to have the induction … I didn’t want to risk it.”

Ms Freguson has noticed traffic becoming more congested in recent years and said there should be additional lanes built into Thurgoona Drive.

“It seems to be more regularly that there’s traffic continuously flowing and it’s getting worse,” she said.

“One or two freeway entrances to take pressure off the main one would be ideal – Albury has multiple.”

Albury Mayor Kevin Mack agreed and said he continued to be hopeful of funding for Davey Road and other projects.

“My personal thoughts are that Kerr Road needs to be extended to the freeway, and the roundabout with Thurgoona and Elizabeth Mitchell drives is a key point where there’s tension and we can alleviate that by widening the road and creating dual lanes into that roundabout so we have a left hand slip lane,” he said.

“There’s things that are happening and in the last few years we’ve been really opening up our doors.

“We are listening and that’s not just rhetoric; we want to make a difference.”

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Protecting Thurgoona’s environmental assets closely followed traffic issues in the most popular topics put forward by residents, including Emily Clarke.

“When you go out along Kerr Road, that used to just be farms and now there’s houses everywhere,” she said.

“I think they’re building too many estates … they’re losing the feel of the area.”

Seventy-per cent of growth for Albury occurs in Thurgoona, and $400 million of new infrastructure is required to cater for the area’s projected population of 50,000.

Thurgoona’s first service station on Diamond Drive is expected to open in October while a fast food outlet on the site is another year away.

Cr Mack said a 424-lot sub-division approved last year nearby had been the topic of many questions from community members.

“I know councillors and myself are very keen to see what green space will be in the second stage of that development – we don’t want to see just a corridor of buildings,” he said.

“Developers need to understand it’s not just concrete and asphalt.

“Thurgoona’s greatest strength is its environmental zones and we need to make sure we don’t do the wrong thing.”