By Charlene Macaulay
The failed fight to stop the Werribee tip expansion has cost ratepayers nearly half a million dollars.
Wyndham council city operations director Stephen Thorpe said it spent about $475,000 fighting a Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) review into the Environment Protection Authority’s (EPA) decision to approve four new cells in the Wests Road landfill, which was brought about by the Western Region Environment Centre.
VCAT upheld the EPA’s original decision, with minor amendments.
“It is disappointing that the works approval cost so much, but we accept the right of environmental groups to object to landfilling,” Mr Thorpe said.
Mr Thorpe said the VCAT decision, which would extend the tip’s lifespan for another 26 years, would make it easier to implement alternative waste strategies.
Construction has already begun on a new cell however, Mr Thorpe said uncertainty created by the case meant several local government and commercial customers had already started taking their waste to other landfills, resulting in a 40 per cent drop to the amount of waste being sent to the RDF.
He said the council will lose about $1 million in revenue a month until the first stage of the cell is completed in December.
Western Region Environment Centre director Harry van Moorst said the group spent about $21,000 fighting the expansion.
“We are not happy these costs are forced upon not-for-profit groups trying to protect the environment and the community while these government agencies and councils can resort to substantial funds from rate and taxpayers,” Mr van Moorst said.
