Preserve our unique region

IS THIS the Yarra Ranges council that took pride in designating a part of our land as being of botanical significance?
Is this the council that limited clearing ahead of bushfire season?
Is this the council that refused to let us remove a tree that tried to kill us by dropping a bough within seconds of our car passing through? Sometimes we railed against prescriptive regulation.
But we put up with it because, like that once-was council, we value the unique culture of our region and would like to see it preserved for future generations.
On Monday, 4 May, some 2000-plus residents received a letter from council, effectively giving a mere four weeks to comment on Yarra Ranges Planning Scheme Amendment C146 – Intensive Animal Husbandry, which seeks to remove the current prohibition on intensive animal husbandry in the Green Wedge Zones.
A spokesperson suggested this was merely legitimising a situation where people were already buying in food to feed their livestock.
I suggest this is a small problem to which council might choose to turn a blind eye under the present guidelines.
But if council broadens the scope of farming activity by its amendment, then it unofficially broadens the scope for subterfuge and the whole ethos of the Hills and the Valley will be lost. Once set in motion, Amendment C146 might well prove impossible to reverse.
Under the amendment, the council will have the ‘discretion’ to consider applications for intensive animal husbandry.
Will it be strong enough to withstand the persuasive powers of big business?
Will it be strong enough to withstand the financial lure of foreign investment?
The present council may well be providing a future council with the necessary stepping-stone to follow a different, more mercenary agenda. Amendment C146 has repercussions for the whole community.
A change of wind and the evil stench could settle over local townships.
Remember the broiler farm at the Monbulk end of Old Emerald Road?
And who will pay for the necessary road upgrades to cope with heavy traffic bringing food in, and transporting stock? This change has the potential to adversely affect the lives of local townsfolk as well as the immediate stakeholders.
I urge council to reconsider.
Susan Jones,
Monbulk.