WERRIBEE is at risk of reclaiming its stigma as an odorous wasteland, politicians and protesters say, unless the council scraps plans for a 45-metre-high mountain of trash.
A public backlash against the controversial plans reached tipping point at a rally of almost 80 residents in Werribee’s CBD on Saturday.
The Environment Protection Authority has confirmed the council is drafting an application to increase the height of the above-ground waste mound at its disposal centre in Wests Road. The mound recently reached a height of 26 metres and, according to council’s master plan, it could eventually go much higher.
Werribee resident Julian Menegazzo, who lives nearby, said the expanded mound would “perpetuate the stigma” attached to Werribee in the past, when Melburnians copped wafts from the sewage farm while travelling on the Princes Freeway.
“Melbourne Water worked so hard to reduce odours,” he said. “Now thousands of motorists will pass that mound and will again associate Werribee with that smell.”
Western Metropolitan Greens MP Colleen Hartland said increasing the above-ground height of the mound raised risks of bad odour, dust, leakage and contaminants that could end up in surface and ground water.
Liberal counterpart Andrew Elsbury said the council’s expansion plans were a “blight on the community and something we have to fight”.
ALP candidate for Lalor Joanne Ryan helped lead a successful 1998 campaign against CSR’s plans for a toxic dump at the same Wests Road site. “What I learned 15 years ago is democracy only works hard for us when we work hard for it,” she said.
The council will apply to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to remove a reference in the permit that allows for a maximum above-ground height of 100 metres.
The Western Region Environment Group will attend the hearing to argue the tip is operating illegally because council had granted the planning permit to itself, and that residents hadn’t been consulted in line with planning requirements.
Council chief executive Kerry Thompson said residents had been notified of the upcoming hearing at VCAT, at a date yet to be fixed. She said the council had also begun organising a community reference group that would work to resolve concerns. Melbourne, Hobsons Bay, Yarra, Port Phillip, Whitehorse and Geelong councils use the Werribee tip. The council reaped nearly $29.3 million in tip fees in 2011-12.
FOLLOW THE STORY
Landfill backlash at tipping point
Toxic mound in Wyndham to rise to 45 metres
Call to stop Werribee’s 45-metre mountain of trash
Ex-councillor Julian Menegazzo hits out
Green rubbishes Wyndham tip bid
