Wyndham residents and the Western Region Environment Centre have applied to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal to force the council to lower the Wests Road tip to ground level.
The application was made last week after mediation between the council and residents failed. As reported by the Weekly, the council is seeking Environment Protection Authority approval to expand cell 4C at the tip to 24 metres above ground.
The EPA has granted approval for cells 4A and 4B to be built to the same height.
The decision has been heavily criticised in the community, with the council admitting it failed to properly consult residents and that it incorrectly granted itself permission to build the tip to 65 metres and 120 metres above the ground in 2010 and 2012.
If approved by VCAT, the amendment will change the tip’s planning permit and require cells 4-8 to be kept at ground level.
Browns Road landowner Julian Menegazzo is among the residents who made the VCAT application.
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He said residents felt they had no option but to try and amend the tip’s permit.
“We will not put up with this smelly eyesore and the stigma it will impose on our community for the next 40 years. We will fight the council and any other bodies that try to continue building waste mountains.”
Western Region Environment Centre director Harry van Moorst said the centre had also started a petition, calling for the state government to impose stricter height regulations for landfills.
Council chief executive Kerry Thompson said the request to reduce the height of the landfill presented environmental concerns as the mounds would need to be disturbed and moved elsewhere. She said this could cause drainage issues and would require the removal of considerable parts of gas capture pipes and other infrastructure.
“Disturbing an existing mound would be like cracking open an egg and then trying to put the shell back on again,” she said.
