By Callum Ludwig
Yarra Ranges Council has taken a step to streamline the delivery of the Warburton Mountain Bike Destination (WMBD) at the Tuesday 28 March Council meeting.
Council have requested a Planning Scheme Amendment to allow them to submit a fully incorporated document for approval to the Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny and apply a Specific Controls Overlay to the land approved for the project.
This means that Council can include all of the processes that need approval, such as development plans, the construction environmental management plan, the operations as environmental management plan and the offset management plan in one document, speeding up the process while maintaining strict controls to ensure it is aligned with the Environment Effects Statement (EES) outcome.
Yarra Ranges Council Mayor and O’Shanassy Ward Councillor Jim Child said every facet of the project has been thoroughly assessed.
“Normally with a planning scheme amendment, we’d appoint a planning panel to then advise the minister. But what we’re dealing with at the moment, we’ve already done that process and we’ve done it stronger than any other planning scheme amendment I’ve ever seen,” he said.
“There were 2700 submissions to the EES process and 2400 of those submissions were in favour of this project. We have had such a strong involvement of the community, especially in the exhibition stage of the Planning Scheme Amendment.”
The former Minister for Planning Lizzie Blandthorn, who approved the WMBD bar the proposed Trails 1, 45, 46 and 47 and asked for an amended environmental management regime, also generally supported the Planning Scheme Amendment in her response.
Lyster Ward Councillor Johanna Skelton spoke to the motion and said as the submission process has already been very hefty, going to the community again would be not meaningful.
“That’s not the kind of consultation that we want, we’ve already received the message. But I did just want to mention that there a still a lot of plans not yet completed, we’ve heard about the emergency management plan that’s been finalised yet or the vegetation management plans,” she said.
“That’s a concern for many people, so it’s important that we acknowledge that this planning amendment is not the last that the community will see of this process. These amendments take some time to do, so I don’t think it’s right that we hold up the community anymore.”
The Planning Scheme Amendment does mean that third parties such as residents or community groups will not receive notice or have the opportunity to make a submission to an independent planning panel as would occur otherwise, but the documentation involved was all exhibited in the EES process and is publicly available.
Vice President of the Warburton Advancement League David Pratt spoke to the item on behalf of the group and said they are in support of the recommendation.
“The Advancement League has been a supporter of all forms of tourism in Warburton for all of its 68-year history and it’s been a supporter of this mountain bike destination project since it was first proposed years ago,” he said.
“Our approach to all things that we do in the Advancement League is not just with advocacy, but with a boots-on-the-ground approach to support the residents of Warburton and surrounding communities,”
“We see the project as one that has the ability to generate more midweek tourism which can help balance our visitor numbers across more days rather than just weekends and provide jobs for people for who weekend work is simply not an option.”
The motion was carried unanimously.
