Confusion remains over tailings dam – City of Ballarat council meeting briefs

LAST week’s City of Ballarat council meeting saw the approval of a planning permit for a new tailings storage facility at Ballarat Gold Mine in Golden Point.

The public gallery was at full capacity of the meeting on Wednesday, 28 June, as concerned residents and gold mine workers sought to have their say on the issue.

The planed tailings dam would include a vehicle access point off White Horse Road and a 100-metre buffer zone to the closest residential properties.

Confusion was a running theme in the debate with councillors seemingly being asked to act as a planning authority.

“It is one of the more frustrating items that I’ve had to deal with as a councillor because as a number of my colleagues have communicated, we’re sitting as a planning authority tonight which is quite different to our role when we sit as a group of councillors,” said deputy-mayor Cr Amy Johnson.

“As councillors we can listen to a whole range of arguments from the community, and we can take our own personal experiences and professional experiences but as matters such as this we need to look to whether it stacks up in regard to planning.”

The land where the gold mine is situated on is zoned as farming due to existing use rights held by Ballarat Gold Mine, meaning zoning does not affect the planning application.

Cr Tracey Hargreaves spoke against the motion citing the 100-meter buffer zone as a key issue but also said the problem was multi-layered.

“It’s very, very complex and it’s something that people on both sides are understatedly very passionate about,” she said.

“It’s very difficult for me to piece together where exactly our authority lies, and I know it’s been spelt out over and over again but I have to admit I’m still a little bit confused.

“I myself can’t get past the 100 meters feeling too close to a residential area.”

Mayor Cr Des Hudson suggested that the $100 million the mine contributes to the local economy be good reason to support the application, however Cr Belinda Coates argued that was not a relevant aspect to a planning application.

“We shouldn’t feel pressured by the economic factors, they are 100 per cent not planning issues, they’re not something as decision makers in this instance we should be taking into account,” she said.

“It’s a very specific planning application, it’s not for or against the operation of the mine.”

Ultimately the motion was carried with, Cr Coates, Cr Hargreaves and Cr Samantha McIntosh voting against.

 

Cats and dogs okayed

All councillors have supported a move to amend a rule that prevented residents in Sanctuary Estate in Mount Helen having pet cats and dogs in order to protect wildlife.

The rule will now state that the animals must be secured on properties unless it is a dog being taken for a walk on a lead.

The change was supported as it was largely unenforceable, and it would not be practical to force residents to give up pets the have acquired by breaking the rules, knowingly or unknowingly.

The rule meant that houses one street over that backed onto Sanctuary Estate could have pets, making it a complex patchwork of rules.

“Unfortunately, the simple reality is it’s just unenforceable as we cannot kick doors down and find animals,” said Cr Mark Harris.

“It would push the cat and dog ownership underground.”

It was reported there was also confusion among residents living in the estate as despite the information being on their title, some claimed to have no idea about the restriction and there are instances where the City of Ballarat has approved the registering of cats and dogs located inside the sanctuary.

Meanwhile renters do not see the land title and were not aware of the rule.

“I personally feel pretty uncomfortable,” said Cr Peter Eddy. “We allowed this situation to come to a head where we’re now faced with this motion because we as a council and as officers and councillors hadn’t enforced the policy many years ago.”

 

Gardens plan approved

A landscape masterplan for the Buninyong Botanic Gardens was adopted by councillors after years of consultation and planning, with all but Cr MacIntosh supporting the motion.

Much community concern centred around changes to the Gong reservoir wall, including the removal of trees.

“The problem that we have councillors is that if we’re going to do a reconstruction we have to do it to current Australian standards, we can’t just do something that’s ad hoc or that someone makes a good suggestion to do,” said Cr Ben Taylor.

“We’ve got the budget that’s allocated and we’ve got to get on and do it.”

Cr Hargreaves agreed that it was important to get the project underway and fix the dam wall, with some residents concerned about risk to their properties if it were to break.

“I think it’s one of those situations that we face quite a lot here where you can’t always make everyone happy,” she said.

“The Gong wall needs to be fixed, it’s not something that we can just keep putting off.

“I think this is a great opportunity while we’ve got it all in one package to get it through and get things happening.”

 

GovHub parking

A written petition was received by council calling for action to address a lack of parking for GovHub workers.

The petition stated that currently some workers are leaving home up to one-and-a-half hours before they start work to get a park within reasonable walking distance.

However, Cr Taylor said as GovHub is a State Government facility, it’s their responsibility to provide adequate parking.

The problem was compouned by the recent closure of the Creswick Road carpark.

“It was very clear when GovHub was being built that there was an opportunity to have a lot of carparks underneath and we found out when it was completed those carparks would not be available for the staff which is very frustrating,” said Cr Taylor.

Cr Johnson shared a similar sentiment and said the State Government needs to provide 1000 car parking spaces promised during the 2018 election campaign.

“We now have up to 1000 people with no where to park, hundreds of our car parks removed,” she said.

“I will highlight to the community as council here tonight that the State Government is responsible for providing car parking for their staff.

“They don’t do it at the hospital and they’re not dong it at GovHub.”

 

Budget approved

The proposed 2023 to 2024 municipal budget was approved with Cr Hudson stating that the City is in a healthy financial position.

The State Governments maximum 3.5 per cent rate increase has been applied although not all rate payers will see an increase.

“37 per cent of ratepayers will actually see a reduction in their rates next year and another 25 per cent will experience an increase of less than 3.5 per cent,” said Cr Hudson.