The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has overturned a decision by Melton council and approved a development that received 422 objections.
Aurora Constructions lodged an application with Melton council last year to use land at 2-50 Meskos Road, Rockbank, for materials recycling. It wanted to construct a rock-crushing facility, a concrete-batching plant and a landscape garden supplies area.
Among the objections was one from the Metropolitan Planning Authority (MPA) and one from the developer of the Mt Atkinson residential estate.
In refusing the permit, council said the proposal was premature, contrary to proper and orderly planning, may “prejudice” the development of the Mt Atkinson Precinct Structure Plan (PSP), and dust and noise impacts had not been fully resolved.
Handing down the tribunal’s decision last month, VCAT member Greg Sharpley said the permit would be subject to 92 conditions.
These included relocating the rock-crushing facility and concrete-batching plant to the north-west of the site and limiting the life of the permit to 10 years.
The MPA withdrew its objection following the repositioning of the rock-crushing facility.
“We see no inconsistency between what is proposed in the application and the strategic direction for the future use of land on the subject land and the wide PSP area,” Mr Sharpley said.
“Further, we find the repositioning of the rock-crushing and concrete-batching operations will not prejudice the orderly planning of the area, specifically the finalisation of the PSP and its implementation, both on subject land and surrounding land.”
Caroline Springs resident Margaret Hewitt said she opposed the planning application because it would have “adverse impacts due to dust, noise and the appearance of the land”.
She also told VCAT the proposed uses were “incompatible” with the residential and commercial uses of the Mt Atkinson precinct.
But Mr Sharpley said: “We appreciate the concerns raised by Ms Hewitt. However, it is unclear to us as to how she can be affected by the proposal”.
Aurora Constructions’ general manager Digby Crawford said: “In locating these services within the development corridor, we can significantly reduce greenhouse effects by long-haul transits.”
