A hearing into waste management company Cleanaway’s plans to expand the Melbourne Regional Landfill in Ravenhall will start next week.
The state government, which took over planning control from Melton council, is directing the application to an independent panel, which will consider submissions and hold public hearings about the expansion from next Wednesday.
The planning application lodged by Cleanaway reveals plans to expand the Ravenhall tip by 311 hectares to the west and north-west of the existing site, and to extend the permit until 2069.
Should the expansion be approved, the tip would be about 1.5 kilometres from the Wyndham boundary.
A spokesman for Planning Minister Richard Wynne says the panel hearing will run for one month, after which the panel will prepare a report for the minister, who will make the final decision “in due course”.
Meanwhile, the Environment Protection Authority has asked Cleanaway for more information on existing groundwater conditions, side wall landfill cell designs and the topographic profile of the site after waste has settled.
EPA development assessments manager Tim Faragher said the additional information was needed by EPA to inform its final determination of Cleanaway’s works approval application.
