Dear Friends

We've got until Wednesday, 4 June to lodge our objections with the Planning Minister. The petition you have signed will help demonstrate the number of interested parties, but it is only your individual submission on the Engage Vic website that will count! Instructions how to do that are at the bottom of this post.

Last Tuesday, Monash Council rejected this Amendment C178 in its submission to the Minister of Planning. I'd really encourage you to read that report, and you can find it on the Monash Council website (sorry, I can't insert a link in this post).

That's great that they rejected the proposal, BUT IT ISN'T ENOUGH! Council is asking the community to lodge their objections with the Planning Minister because they're worried that she will ignore their concerns. It's a political fight now. Here are some dot points that they put to the Minister, which you can echo in your submission:

1) A failure to provide the detail of rigor and certainty for the management of the contamination of the site given its operation as a former quarry and landfill.

2) A lack of necessary certainty and clarity for planning controls for the delivery of the proposed development on the site.

3) A proposed exemption from contributing to public open space

4) A proposal to make the Victorian Government Minister for Planning the responsible authority for the approval of the overarching development plan but not individual planning permits under that plan.

Here are more, some also contained in the report:

5) Under C178, there would be NO HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS. I can tell you, from reading the report, that they will build massive structures in Zone 1 and 2 next to residents because in order to build in those zones they need 30m piles in the quicksand and they need landfill gas (LFG) exhaust vents that can expel LFG high enough in the air not to be trapped close to the ground on cold days. The report says 6-story buildings, but there's nothing to limit it from being 10, or even more.

6) A site such as this containing both putrescible waste and quicksand/slimes has never been developed for residential housing in Australia because the risks are too great. We proved this at Planning Panels Victoria in 2018 where the report said: The Panel considers that there is no clear development precedent that demonstrates that geotechnical engineering solutions are feasible for the development proposed on the Amendment site. The Amendment site is a complex site with a combination of geotechnical and environmental problems which are in part a legacy of unregulated past use.

7) The site would be best suited for use as public open space, a wildlife refuge, sports facility, or combination of these low-impact uses. Only uses such as these would be safe to the community and the environment.

8) The Suburban Rail Loop Authority includes plans for significantly greater housing densities in Clayton. SRL plans state the need for additional provision of regional scale fields of a competition standard in the area, and Talbot Quarry falls within the required distance to Clayton. Given the fact that Talbot Quarry is approximately 18 hectares in size, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to accommodate sports grounds of this scale. By exercising the S173 agreement currently on the site, the State Government should purchase the site at a fair market value (prior to rezoning) and invest in public recreation space for the community.

9) You may have other objections, but hopefully these will give you some ideas. 

How do you lodge your objection?

1) Go to engage.vic.gov.au

2) Type 'Talbot Quarry' into the search bar

3) Click on the tab and scroll down to "Start Survey" 

4) that's it!

Please take a few moments to do lodge your application--it's very important and it isn't difficult to do! This may be our last chance to stop them from making a horrible mistake.

THANK YOU!