By Alesha Capone
Taxpayers will foot a $9 million bill to make up for the loss of 63 kilometres of environmentally significant land during construction of the Cherry Creek youth justice centre, new documents show.
The state government is building the $419 million centre to the west of Werribee, 1.5 kilometres north-east of Little River Road where it joins the Princes Freeway.
The construction will lead to the loss of 28.23 hectares of Natural Temperate Grassland of the Victorian Volcanic Plain (NTGVVP) and 35.66 hectares of Golden Sun Moth habitat, amounting to 63.89 kilometres being wiped out in total.
The NTGVVP supports a variety of nationally-threatened animals and more than 20 threatened plants, while the Golden Sun Moth is critically endangered.
The Victorian Department of Justice and Regulation (DJR) has committed to paying $9 million to the not-for-profit organisation Trust for Nature “for the purpose of securing and managing an offset area”.
The offset area will compensate for the repurposed land at the jail and its access road, by securing land at another site which will be managed over time to make up for loss of endangered flora and fauna at Cherry Creek.
The federal Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment has ordered the DJR to enter into a written bond agreement, requiring Trust for Nature to hold the $9 million in trust until the offset land is identified and purchased.
The $9 million will form the basis of a payment to purchase environmental services for the offset area.
If the cost of purchasing environmental services is greater than $9 million, DJR will have to pay additional funds to Trust for Nature.
Earlier this month, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment issued an extension allowing the DJR to take longer than originally approved to find an appropriate offset site.
The DJR has been given until April 2022 to do so.
Construction is now under way on the Cherry Creek youth justice centre, with completion scheduled for next year.
The centre will have about 140 beds, a 12-bed mental health unit and an intensive supervision unit of at least eight beds.
