Town’s water war continues

THE Shire of Yarra Ranges has resolved to continue its fight against a water extraction plant for Powelltown.
Sunkoshi Pty Ltd has lodged an application for VCAT for a planning application to develop a utility installation to extract groundwater from a privately owned property.
The hearing is set for 6 December and is due to run for three days.
Sunkoshi took the matter to VCAT when the Shire of Yarra Ranges failed to deliver a decision on its planning application within the mandatory 60 days.
Yarra Ranges council voted on 14 November to advise VCAT that, given the chance, it would have refused to grant a permit.
Councillors Jeanette McRae and Samantha Dunn moved the motion citing a range of objections including that the project is inconsistent with local planning policy, insufficient information has been provided to show it will not impact on the environment, the proposed operating times of 6am to 6pm every day are an unacceptable intrusion on neighbours and that it enables the permanent removal of a water resource without benefit to the local community.
James Lamour-Reid, the shire’s director of planning, said the shire would make its position clear to VCAT.
The shire argued unsuccessfully at VCAT two years ago against a water bottling plant.
Mr Lamour-Reid said one of the challenges facing the council was that VCAT approved the previous application.
“In many ways this application has less impact,” he said. He also said new research, including expert advice from a hydrologist, had given rise to new arguments.
Sunkoshi is expected to call on the expert opinion of an hydrologist also and Mr Lamour-Reid said a lot would turn on their evidence.
Mr Lamour-Reid some of the issues councillors are concerned about go to the wider problem of how to regulate water consumption throughout the state, particularly in time of drought.
He said the shire had written to the State and Federal environment ministers raising concerns about the proposal.
He said, however, that while the broader philosophical arguments about water resource can be argued at VCAT, they won’t carry much weight.
The president of the VCAT tribunal will be hearing the case.
Mr Lamour-Reid was reluctant to label it a test case.
“It’s highly important.
“Whether it’s a test case, will be revealed by the nature of the decision.