By Alesha Capone
Wyndham council has expressed concerns about a pilot project to trial newly developed planning controls for quarry operations.
The state government has selected Wyndham and the Shire of South Gippsland for inclusion in the Strategic Extractive Resource Areas (SERA) pilot project, which will trial new planning scheme controls for existing quarry operations and on land where new quarrying operations could potentially be established.
After being trialled in Wyndham and South Gippsland, the state government will consider rolling the new controls out across the rest of the state.
Star Weekly reported on the trial last month, with Cr Mia Shaw expressing concern that the pilot could result in more quarry trucks on Wyndham’s roads.
Public consultation on the SERA pilot will be open until July 24.
At a council meeting last week, the council considered a submission it will make to the consultation process.
The council report into the matter said: “In general, the submission response supports the pilot project.”
However, the submission echoed Cr Shaw’s concern that the pilot project could “increase the amount of truck movements along Wyndham’s road network, particularly in the western parts of the municipality where the SERAs will be located”.
“This will contribute to putting further strain on an already congested network,” the report said.
The report also said: “… it is expected that there will be some form of degradation to environmental features and assets caused by the expansion of existing quarries or the establishment of new quarries within the SERA boundaries.”
Details: engage.vic.gov.au/sera-pilot-project or call Engage Victoria 136 186.
