Company wins in Corio servo battle

Jessica Benton
DEVELOPERS have won a long battle to build a controversial freeway service centre at Lovely Banks.
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has approved the Bredix plan to build the centre on the north-bound side of Geelong’s bypass despite nearby residents’ objections.
Objectors had complained about noise, extra traffic and “visual impacts”.
The plan went to VCAT after Geelong’s council failed to decide on Bredix’s permit application within a 60-day deadline. Council refused to back the plan because it was “at odds” with the surrounding area.
The service centre would include truck and vehicle fuel bays, a convenience store and three food-and-drink premises, two with drive-through lanes.
The land will be rezoned from rural living to accommodate the centre.
The tribunal ruled the facility was appropriate for the site after another service centre was approved on the opposite side of the bypass.
“The tribunal has concluded previously that a pair of (freeway service centres) on the ring road at this location is appropriate and is supported by the policy framework of the planning scheme,” the tribunal’s ruling said.
The tribunal also ruled that the bypass could not be considered a rural freeway “in any practical or meaningful sense”
The tribunal believed that the service centre would achieve net “community benefit”.
“Freeway service centres make an important contribution to road safety because they encourage drivers to stop and break their journey,” the ruling said.
The tribunal noted the plan had generated “a lot” of objections from residents. More than 40 objectors were listed as respondents to the tribunal hearing.
The tribunal placed a condition on the development limiting signage heights to seven metres.
An initial attempt to develop a centre plan on the site failed at VCAT in 2007.
Bredix’s permits will expire if the company has not started work on the project in two years or completed it in four.