The grassroots community movement opposing the proposed waste-to-energy incinerator in Lara has had two big wins in the past two weeks.
Last week Prospect Hill International (PHI) was refused an operating licence by Recycle Victoria, while on Wednesday this week the Victorian Legislative Council approved an inquiry into the Victorian waste-to-energy industry as a whole.
However, these developments represent setbacks to the Lara incinerator rather than definitively ruling out the possibility it could be built in the future.
Local advocate Charles Street is president of community organisation No Waste Incinerators in Lara & Greater Geelong Incorporated, and has been active in his opposition to the proposed facility.
He said while the denial of PHI’s licence from Recycle Victoria was welcome, opponents of the incinerator feel like they are “about one-third of the way to victory”.
“The two other things that really need to get done are, firstly, that the EPA’s development licence to build the thing needs to be formally revoked,” Mr Street said.
“The second is that the application for a planning permit needs to be formally refused. So our group has written to the Premier and government saying this is what we want.”
Geelong Mayor Stretch Kontelj announced at Tuesday’s council meeting he had also written a letter to Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny expressing the concerns of the community and urging her to make sure “the project is ruled out for good”.
“We are opposed to it in any shape or form, so I’ll keep the community informed of the response I ultimately get from the minister,” he said.
PHI was contacted for comment.
