By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
YARRA Ranges Council may rescind last week’s decision to abandon a planning scheme amendment on intensive animal husbandry.
In a councillor motion listed for Yarra Ranges Council meeting on Tuesday 25 August, Mayor Maria McCarthy will put forward a motion to rescind the decision made on 11 August to abandon Planning Scheme Amendment C146.
O’Shannassy Ward councillor Jim Child said he was very pleased Mayor McCarthy was revisiting the issue with council.
“I’m proud of our mayor to bring it back to council,” he said.
“She is doing a wonderful thing for the future of agriculture in the Yarra Ranges.”
The controversy surrounding amendment C146 is focused on the Happy Valley Piggery in Wandin North that was declared as using their land illegally by VCAT where their free range pig farm was declared intensive farming.
“We have a responsibility to follow through with C146 to actually do what we can to remove that intensive GWZ 1 2 3 and allow free range farms,” Mr Child said.
Cr McCarthy’s motion, should it be passed, asks the council to rescind the decision and request that the Planning Minister appoint an independent planning panel to consider the potential amendment.
All 165 of the written submissions would be referred to the panel for its consideration.
Cr Child said the best outcome would be for written submissions to be submitted to an independent panel as this issue is was hotly contested during previous council meetings.
“It was a very hostile gallery last time,” she said.
“I’ve had calls from free ranges farmers to say there was no way they were going speak in front of the gallery.”
Cr Child said concerns about the amendment allowing broiler farms, intense piggeries and cattle feedlots were unfounded.
“The campaign against the removal of prohibition is a beat up of groups saying we are going to allow freed lots and broiler farms,” he said.
“We said the barring of feed lots etc. will remain. We want to allow people to do free range operations.”
Cr Child also said the number of objectors did not necessarily outweigh the number of supporters as council only received a 5.5 per cent response rate to the notification letters sent out to the community.
“This is another reason we should take this to a panel to get an independent recommendation,” he said.
