RESIDENTS and Brimbank Council will seek to appeal a Victorian Civil Administrative Tribunal decision to allow the former Sunshine Kealba Quarry site to be turned into a rubbish dump.
Council administrator John Watson said officers were seeking legal advice.
He said the council was “extremely disappointed” by the decision, handed down on April 4.
“This is a matter council has been fighting for almost four years and the community and council have been ignored,” Mr Watson said.
“The site is very close to people’s houses and the Maribyrnong River. Council’s original decision was made on a sound planning assessment and for the benefit of the community.”
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Barro Group’s application was first knocked back in 2011, after council received more than 660 objections. The decision was upheld by VCAT, but Barro appealed to the Supreme Court. Last May, Justice Karin Emerton sent the case back to VCAT, finding it had misunderstood the statutory and policy regime and failed to give proper consideration to the proposal’s net community benefit.
After a second hearing last December, VCAT deputy president Helen Gibson and member Ian Potts acknowledged landfill developments were rarely popular. “People become fearful and very emotional about the potential risks they present to health and amenity,” they stated. “In all other respects, we are satisfied that from a strategic and policy perspective this site is suitable for use for a solid, inert waste landfill.”
VCAT was satisfied the landfill would provide a net community benefit. “It will also benefit future generations by the creation of a land form that can be used for recreation and open space.”
Residents Against Sunshine Kealba Quarry spokeswoman Marilyn Canet said residents were devastated by the decision. “There will be a lifetime of environmental impacts, many of which won’t be able to be fixed or addressed until it has been constructed and it’s too late.”
Ms Canet said residents would meet this month to discuss their next move. “We will be protesting this decision loudly.
