Residents living around the latest television project The Block are counting the days until workers pack up and leave after months of misery at the idyllic location.
Channel Nine’s renovation series is out of welcome after it caused what some locals described as “traffic chaos” on and around the construction site on Phillip Island – the iconic spot 90 minutes from Melbourne where the famous little penguins come ashore in groups.
On Friday, Daily Mail Australia watched as huge rigs brought palm trees to the construction site, which is located in a former Cowes resort along a narrow street ironically called Justice Road.
A truck driving into a large palm tree on The Block struggles to get around a roundabout on Friday
The Block host Scott Cam is filming in Phillip Island on Friday
Phillip Island residents have lashed out at traffic around The Block construction site
“There is no justice this way,” said one weary resident.
‘It has been chaos here for months. We can’t wait for them to go.’
Construction workers descended on the site in February, causing an endless parade of traffic for some residents along a road also used by busloads of tourists heading to the nightly penguin parade.
One resident told Daily Mail Australia the traffic problems were mainly caused by large trucks carrying The Block’s building materials being forced to queue along the street.
They could wait in line for up to three hours, locals said, because there was only one entrance in and out of the building where the houses were built.
The trucks often stood idle on the road for hours as their engines spewed fumes into the air, residents claimed.
“It’s not ideal, but what can you do?” said a female neighbor, who wished to remain anonymous.
“We can’t wait to see the backs of them.”
Daily Mail Australia spoke to a group of neighbors living around the controversial construction site who had suffered for the past three months.
Phillip Island residents living near The Block say trucks entering and leaving the site are causing ‘chaos’
Trucks seen along Justice Road to The Block on Friday
Phillip Island is known worldwide for its little penguin parades
Some claimed that construction workers initially massacred their lawns by driving their trucks up and over the curb, but they said that problem subsided during the three-month ordeal.
But local construction traffic continued to annoy them, most said, especially because of the way trucks enter and leave the site.
“I’ve almost had two head-on collisions because the traffic controllers aren’t doing their job properly,” says another resident.
The elderly local resident was seen on Friday staring at the entrance to The Block as trucks entered and exited the site.
“I don’t want to cause any trouble, but I don’t want to have an accident either,” he said.
The resident reflected the attitude of many spoken to by Daily Mail Australia on Friday.
They believed The Block had managed to escape being fined for certain matters before TV chiefs stepped in and enforced a crackdown.
“They used to park on nature strips and such, but production has cracked down on them and become quite strict,” said another local resident.
‘The municipality says that you cannot plant trees on your nature strip because you see nothing when you drive away, but look at all those trucks, you see nothing.’
With planned construction just a week away, some residents are beginning to speculate about who could buy the properties and become their new neighbors.
Some locals claim that traffic management to the site is substandard
The Block will host Shelley Craft at the Phillip Island construction site on Friday
A McCafe across the street from last year’s construction site annoyed the neighbors when they stopped serving free coffee
Adrian Portelli (right) is in the habit of purchasing a property from The Block
‘Lambo Guy’ Adrian Portelli has a history of buying Block properties for outrageously high prices before setting them up as top prizes in his lotteries.
“I can handle the noise from the construction,” said a resident directly across the street from The Block.
‘But I don’t know if I can handle him destroying the neighborhood. Guess I’ll just pack it up and sell it.’
Neighborhood complaints have become an essential part of the production of The Block.
Last year, residents around The Block in leafy Hampton lashed out when a makeshift McCafe on their street suddenly stopped serving free coffee.
Other residents complained that some of the show’s stars were ‘illegally’ blocking access to their private driveways.
In March last year, Daily Mail Australia reported that residents were angry with The Block creator and executive producer Julian Cress himself after he parked his $500,000 Porsche on the street.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Nine for comment.
Trucks parked along Justice Road outside The Block on Friday
Some residents have installed fences in front of their homes to try to keep construction workers’ trucks off their property