on the nose

report from the roundtable – 13 jul

At the last council meeting we had to consider an application by ANL to amend their planning permit and site layout, as well as construction of new buildings at the composting facility in Coldstream.

Over many years the compost facility has cast a shocking odour over the long suffering residents of Coldstream and Lilydale.

I seconded the motion to refuse the application. Council had no choice but to refuse the application as the EPA has objected to the current application.

Green waste composting is a really good thing to do as long as you get it right, but on this site it's anything but right. Since its operation the facility operators have made no genuine attempt to reduce the impact on the community.

The EPA reports that it has no confidence in the applicant's proposal. The EPA goes on to say that for the last three and a half years this site has continually been at the top of the list of community complaints and the EPA have received more than 2,500 reports of odour from the company's operations during that time.

The EPA was very clear in its determination that the proposal did not use best practice technology and didn't have adequate buffers to prevent off site odour impact.

It is not supportable, council didn't support it and refused the application unanimously, which I suspect would have happened regardless of the EPA's objection.