LAST STOP: Examining Sinclair’s swimming hole during an inspection of the proposed site for a pebble quarry in the Buckland Valley last week are (middle) VCAT planning and environment panel senior member Russell Byard and (far right) landowner Mark Wallace.
Council refusal overturned: pebble extraction to start next year
Written by EBONY D'ARCY.
A PROPOSED pebble quarry in the Buckland Valley has been given the go-ahead by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).
Alpine Shire Council spent four days last week defending its move to refuse a planning permit for the quarry, situated on 4.9 hectares of land adjacent to Porepunkah Airfield.
VCAT chairman Russell Byard issued a verbal go ahead for the project at the close of the session on Friday night.
Council voted on the proposal late last year, with councillors moving 4 - 2 to refuse the application, despite the planning department’s recommendation to give it the go ahead.
Council’s manager planning and environment, Heather Green, said the verbal approval was granted for three key reasons.
"Mr Byard made three points when making the decision," she said.
"One was that he didn’t anticipate surrounding amenity impacts would be any different to those in an agricultural environment.
"Secondly, he didn’t foresee any negative impact to the surrounding environment due to the topography and vegetation of the site.
"Finally, he said the condition to rehabilitate the land would result in improvements to the land in the long term - at the moment the site is like a moonscape and has no hope as it is of being rehabilitated."
Bulmans Garden Supplies owner Graham Ryleigh said the win was a "relief".
"This has been a long, drawn out process that really should never have had to happen," he said.
"We had the approval of the necessary regulatory authorities, subject to their conditions, and this has really been just a waste of time, as well as costly for both parties."
Mr Ryleigh said some fine-tuning of the permit was required to meet VCAT’s conditions, with work on the site set to start early next year.
"We are very happy with the result and we see this as a win-win situation both for us and the local community," he said.
"We aim to employ people locally, including two or three employees on site as well as local drivers."
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