By Eleanor Wilson
The message was simple for a group of about 200 locals who assembled at the entrance to the Hallam Road Landfill on Saturday, 12 November.
‘We say no.’
Signs, banners and passionate voices came out in hundreds to oppose the proposal of the draft Hampton Park Hill Development Plan.
The draft plan, which was announced for public consultation by Casey Council earlier this year, sets out the future for the land on the site of the Hampton Park Landfill, which is set to reach capacity in coming years. The landfill site was identified by the State Government, through the State-wide Waste and Resource Recovery Implementation Plan (Sustainability Victoria, 2018), as a significant site for waste and resource recovery.
Eighty-five hectares of public open space reserve is proposed to replace the tip when it reaches capacity in the next 10 years.
But also proposed is a waste transfer station, which according to plans, would operate for up to 18 hours a day, transporting waste out of the site in B-double trucks between 12am and 6pm on weekdays.
The proposal came as a shock to local residents, like resident Kim Murphy, who bought her Lynbrook house in 2002, said she was told that the tip would fill in the next five years and would then be repatriated into parkland.
Residents have also raised concerns over the 500-metre overlay buffer applied to houses within the buffer zone, potentially impacting house prices and development prospects.
“The community has suffered with the smell [of the tip] in the hope we would get this beautiful parkland, but instead what we are getting is 30-plus years of torment,” Mrs Murphy said.
“We’re not going to rest until we’ve tried every single avenue to protect the five communities that are impacted by this tip.”
She said Saturday’s protest was peaceful, but powerful.
“There was a lot of frustration from the community. It was about letting everyone who needs to hear it know that we’ve had enough of living with the tip on our back door steps.
“We organised this protest in eight days and the community got 5500 flyers out in that time… I’d love to thank all the people in the community that helped get the word out in such a short period of time.
“I could not be more proud of our community for standing up for their future.”
Along with residents from Narre Warren North, Cranbourne North, Hampton Park, Lynbrook and Lyndhurst, local state election candidates from the Liberal Party, Freedom Party, Australian Greens and Liberal Democrats were in attendance to offer their support.
“We could not be happier that these candidates actually identified what a massive issue this is for our community,” Mrs Murphy said.
“There was a stand out [party] that was not there, which is really disappointing.”
In a statement, a spokesperson from the Department of Environment Land Water and Planning (DELWP) said the Victorian Government’s statewide focus is a transition toward waste transfer, resource recovery and recycling in line with circular economy goals.
City of Casey council officers are currently working through 1043 public submissions to its draft plan for the landfill, many of which are objections, according to City of Casey planning and building manager Duncan Turner.
