by Gabriella Vukman
A potential landfill site in the Lysterfield Valley is being debated and local action groups and residents alike are rallying to stop it.
With a preliminary hearing set for 27 March at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), the hearing will determine whether a development application for the 400,000 cubic metres of clean fill to be deposited in the Lysterfield Valley is required and therefore, whether the site will go ahead.
President of the Friends of Glenfern Valley Bushland Group Jackson Ellis said, “The clean fill proposal was originally refused by Yarra Ranges Council last October, prompting the applicant to then put a submission into VCAT to have that case contested.”
“We’ve been working really hard to put a case together to make sure that Lysterfield Valley is protected from these sorts of landfill sites and specifically this one being a fifteen hectare site.”
“The fill is going to be a massive pile of dirt coming from unknown locations to within 200m of Monbulk Creek where our famous 24-year-old platypus was identified only earlier this year and we are really concerned that the sediment run-off from this development will impact those environments,” Mr Ellis said.
Friends of Glenfern Valley Bushland Group, Green Wedge National Trust, Save the Dandenongs League and the Green Wedge Coalition are just some of the groups that are banning together to object to the case.
Mr Ellis said, “We are hoping that the tribunal will be able to define what types of permits are required for this type of development and if the applicant wishes to pursue those permits then we might be meeting them again in VCAT after they put those relevant applications into council.”
“We hope that the planning office and the tribunal next week can take this in hand with our case and with future cases going forward to make sure that green wedge areas in peri-urban environments around melbourne are protected from these sorts of developments,” Mr Ellis said.
The Green Wedges and Agricultural Land Action Plan for 2024 stipulates that the Victoria Department of Planning and Transport will be imposing tougher trigger requirements for permits over green wedge land.
The fill that will be deposited at the proposed site is known as Clean Fill which is classified by the Environment Protection Authority as having a ‘limited or no amounts of dangerous contaminants,’ meaning it is intended to be a non-toxic component.
Mr Elis said, “We know from other cases and specifically in and around the infrastructure developments happening currently that there are high risks of contamination.”
“The shame of it is that they have deep pockets and we are a bunch of volunteers who are putting up a really strong fight against this with community fundraising to support us,” Mr Ellis said.
The 400,000 cubic metres of fill will be delivered by over 50 trucks per day for the span of three years.
Mr Ellis said, “There will be the pollution from trucks themselves as well as invasive species weeds and vermin which inhabit the site inevitably as a result of that again, threatening the environment which includes Lysterfield Park on two sides of the site.”
