By Monique Ebrington
YARRA Junction resident Steve Wales met with supporters last Friday, 16 April to celebrate victory in a year-long battle to keep his family business.
Mr Wales operates an earth-moving and excavating equipment business off Lowes Road.
In November 2008 the Shire of Yarra Ranges refused a permit application for Mr Wales’ 10.5 hectare property, lodged by land development consultants Miller and Merrigan on his behalf, which would allow him to continue to operate the business.
Mr Wales, a civil contractor, has been operating his business from the Yarra Junction property for 30 years and said he intended passing it on to his 24-year-old son Danny.
He said that if he was not successful at VCAT it wouldn’t be profitable for him to relocate and he would lose his business.
Mr Wales’s situation drew in the attention of local and state politicians including Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu, Member for Eastern Victoria Edward O’Donohue and Evelyn MP Christine Fyffe who were, among other things, concerned that the decision to close down his business also put valued local jobs at risk.
The decision made by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal (VCAT) was Mr Wales’s last hope in his bid to save his family business, after an appeal to the Victorian Minister for Planning Justin Madden to help resolve the situation out of VCAT was rejected.
In late March VCAT Member Dalia Cook considered the claims by Mr Wales and the shire and concluded that there was no need for a planning permit to be granted ‘in order for the current use of land to continue lawfully’ and the application was withdrawn.
Mr Wales said that the decision, in his favour, was a huge relief in his professional and personal life.
He said that pending the VCAT decision the business, with an uncertain future, was stuck in ‘limbo’.
“It has dragged on, but it’s all over now and we’ve got what we want,” Mr Wales said.
“We’re lucky that we have a bit of ‘fight’ in us and we don’t give up easily. We’re Aussies and we’ll dig our heels in and fight for what we think is right.
“Like the old Diggers, they didn’t give up and we wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them.
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