By Luke Voogt
Campaigners are butting heads with nutrient company Nuchev over a planned 4500-goat farm at Lara over fears infectious disease will threaten vulnerable residents.
The No Nuchev Campaign group had collected more than 2300 signatures opposing the farm, according to organiser Bronwen Baker.
“We absolutely don’t want it here,” she said.
Local parents of children with health conditions including heart problems and cystic fibrosis had contacted Ms Baker over fears of Q fever, she said.
Q fever can trigger abortions in goats and causes flu-like symptoms and sometimes pneumonia in humans.
The Indy the spoke to the mother of a one-year-old with a heart condition, living nearby but asking not to be identified, who said the farm would force her to move.
The planned farm threatened nearby homes and Lara Lake Primary School, which is roughly 1km from the site, Ms Baker said.
The farm would also create noise, air pollution and traffic, and cause local property values to decrease, she added.
The group would next week make a submission urging Geelong council to appeal the proposal in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), Ms Baker said
“For any of us to take it to VCAT, we’ve missed the boat by two years,” she said.
But council had grounds to appeal, based on VCAT overturning a permit for Nuchev’s proposed 14,000-goat farm Moorabool in January due to Q fever risks, Ms Baker said.
The decision was a “material change of circumstances” since the issue of the permit, which would allow council to appeal under planning law, she explained.
Residents were fuming that Geelong’s State-appointed administrators had approved the permit in July 2016 “without proper consultation”, Ms Baker said.
“About 500 people are saying they are prepared to sign statutory declarations saying they didn’t know about the proposal, or didn’t understand what and where it was going.”
Nuchev sent out leaflets and conducted a consultation for a site on McManus Road in 2015, Ms Baker said.
“All the supposed consultation Nuchev did was in relation to that site.”
But Nuchev changed the site to 240 Forrest Road South, Lara, later that year.
“The first couple of (Nuchev’s advertisements) in the newspaper didn’t even have an address,” Ms Baker said.
“Our researchers have found so many variations of the address that were published, it’s no wonder people were confused.”
But a Nuchev spokesperson said Geelong council had conducted the required consultation and the company had undertaken “supplementary” consultation.
The EPA, Geelong council and the Department of Health and Human Services had approved its “robust” risk management and infectious control plans.
Nuchev said the farm would create 67 jobs plus additional indirect employment.
Geelong council planning and development director Kelvin Walsh said City Hall had no ability to overturn the permit but must consider any petition it received.
Nuchev had revised its Q fever risk assessment to the satisfaction of the Department of Health and Human Services, Mr Walsh said.
The City advertised the site at 240 Forest Road South, Lara, from 2 to 17 October, 2015, via signs fronting Forest Road South, and Broderick Road.
The City sent 252 letters to surrounding property owners and occupiers, Mr Walsh said.
