A LANDOWNER will continue with plans to extract water at a Stanley property despite a setback from a VCAT decision on Tuesday.
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The tribunal dismissed an appeal by Stanley Pastoral on the basis it didn’t have a Cultural Heritage Management Plan as a part of its original application to Indigo Council.
The company applied to use an existing groundwater bore and to develop a water transfer station where water would be transported and bottled for commercial sale.
Property owner Tim Carey said the decision was a “delay” in the process.
“We will keep pursuing it and we are determined to make sure it happens,” Mr Carey said.
“The bore has always been there, the same as what every farmer in the district has got and it is fully licensed, so we just need council approval.
“It’s a simple matter of putting up a shed and some tanks.
“This is a delay, we put forward our application saying a cultural plan wasn’t required, but VCAT says it is, so we will do that.
“Then we go back to council and start the whole process again.”
The company appealed to VCAT last year on the grounds that Indigo Shire Council had failed to determine its application within the required time.
However, VCAT deputy president Mark Dwyer found that because the “activity area” of the operation was within 200 metres of Myrtle Creek, it was an area of “cultural heritage sensitivity” and would require a cultural heritage management plan.
Indigo Shire chief executive Gerry Smith said this effectively meant the first application by Stanley Pastoral was incomplete and remained to be decided by the council on receipt of such a plan.
“We will write to Stanley Pastoral informing them that council will look at this issue again once we receive a cultural heritage management plan,” Mr Smith said.
“We will also write to the objectors to the planning application confirming VCAT has said their objections still stand and that they do not have to re-submit them unless the application is amended.
“It is clear from the VCAT decision that council is free to make a fresh decision on this matter.”
Indigo mayor Bernard Gaffney said the council believed it had a strong case for refusing the application.
“This vindicates the decision of council to refuse the application for a permit, which was in line with community concerns,” Cr Gaffney said.
“We were confident we would succeed and the decision is a win for the community.”
