Devenish sand mine to go before VCAT

Local resident June Howard contacted the Ensign to ensure local people were aware that the project could still go ahead.

At the meeting in August she said that she had lived in Devenish for nearly 20 years and when she first saw the revised application she thought “oh dear”.

“Nothing has changed from the previous application, really, other than the request for a sand mine has moved to the next plot down,” she said.

“It appears that any approval will be the thin edge of the wedge for ongoing mining over the whole property.”

Whiteman Property and Associates managing director Ken Whiteman also spoke at the meeting.

“We’re a town planning and development management consultancy, which provides property services to land developers and landowners throughout Victoria,” he told the meeting.

“In 2022, we prepared a similar application for the same property.

“There were a number of concerns raised by council ... and ultimately those concerns were upheld by VCAT.”

Mr Whiteman said there were a number of matters that needed to be addressed.

“We spent a lot of time reviewing their decision to work out how we could do a proposal to achieve the better result,” he said.

“We examined each of the 11 points raised by VCAT and addressed each of those points in great detail.”

Mr Whiteman went on to mention a couple of those.

“With the siting, the proposed mining site has now been moved much further south within the property, and that decision alone has allowed us to address a number of the concerns previously raised and upheld by VCAT,” he said.

“Mining activity was previously in the rural living zone, and it's now in the farming zone.

“Now it is located further away from the township, and it is located further away from the dwellings.

“The nearest residence is 707 metres away.

“The EPA guidelines suggest that 500 metres is the required buffer.

“The increased separation from dwellings reduces the impact from noise, dust and visual and energy perspectives.”

Mr Whiteman went on to cover other areas highlighted by VCAT, and how the new proposal addressed them.

He said there were 11 concerns and all had been met.

However, council was still not happy with the new proposal and Mayor Bernie Hearn proposed an alternative motion to the one listed in the meeting agenda.

That new motion rejected the application.

It will now go before VCAT for a final decision.

To find out more, access the meeting minutes via benalla.vic.gov.au.

The meeting is available to watch on council’s YouTube channel.