THE door is still open for parts of Kingston’s Green Wedge to be used as a waste hub for Melbourne after the state government released a statewide waste infrastructure plan late last week.
One of the stated aims of the Statewide Waste and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan is the “protection of Green Wedge land” but lists the Clayton-Dingley precinct as one of several “existing hubs important to the state system”.
Kingston Council has made it clear that it does not want waste transfer or materials recycling plants housed on Green Wedge land.
Labor Planning Minister Richard Wynne has extended temporary protection for land north of Kingston and Heatherton Roads but has not as yet agreed that the land can be rezoned from a Special Use Zone, allowing waste-related activities, to a Green Wedge A Zone.
A spokeswoman for the Planning Minister said the Kingston Planning Scheme Amendment C143 was submitted to the department for approval on 27 May.
“The Department is still assessing the proposed amendment and will provide recommendations for the Minister to consider in due course.”
Kingston mayor Cr Geoff Gledhill said council officers had “knocked back” a Lantrak application for a permit to set up a materials recycling and transfer station operation at their existing landfill site at Kingston Rd, Heatherton.
The mayor said council “don’t want to be seen as a NIMBY sort of group” but it is time to move such operations out of the area for the sake of neighbouring residents.
“We acknowledge that area has been used for such a use for a long period of time. We as a council will play our part in supporting that industry which is essential in any modern society but we don’t want it there,” he said.
“We understand that it’s something the government will consider but we ask them to consider those people who live there.”
Residents have complained about odours and increased truck traffic in the area for several years.
Defenders of the South East Green Wedge secretary Barry Ross said a waste hub for Melbourne’s recycling needs is needed but it should not be located in Kingston’s Green Wedge.
“It’s time now [for the Planning Minister] to say ‘no’ … there is a case for a waste hub somewhere but it should be in an industrial zone.”
In a statement accompanying the release of the Statewide Waste and Resource Recovery Infrastructure Plan the Parliamentary Secretary for Environment Anthony Carbines said the plan will see seven Regional Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plans developed “to capture the needs and priorities of each region of Victoria” for the next 30 years.
“The plan was developed following extensive community consultation, and we will continue to have those conversations at the local level throughout the development of the regional implementation plans.”
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 17 June 2015
