WYNDHAM council has been accused of “lies and distortions” about its plans to expand a Werribee landfill mound.
Environmentalists and residents have hit out at council’s claims that an above-ground landfill is the Environment Protection Authority’s preferred method of waste disposal.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” said Joanne Ryan, a prospective ALP candidate for the seat of Lalor.
The EPA’s landfill siting and design best-practice guidelines, from May 2010, state: “Mound landfills are to be avoided as their exposed nature requires significant litter controls and presents a significant visual impact on the landscape.’’
The council is applying to the EPA to increase the mound to 45 metres, the height of a 12-storey building.
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Acting council chief executive Kelly Grigsby said her comments on above-ground landfill “were intended to reference the EPA’s issuing of approvals for these types of landfills”.
She said the council would apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to remove a reference on its planning permit allowing for the mound to eventually reach 100 metres above ground.
Ms Ryan, a Werribee resident who played a lead role in the 1998 campaign against a proposed toxic dump at the same Wests Road site, called for council to amend its permit to keep the landfill at ground level, “not as a mountain”.
“Council is waging a war of lies and distortions against its own residents,” she said.
“It is time that the council was honest in its dealings with the community and provided adequate and accurate information.”
