A proposal to add 300,000 cubic metres of topsoil on a low-lying Green Wedge pasture in Bangholme has been refused by the state’s planning tribunal.
In an appeal at VCAT, CM Innovation Park Pty Ltd applied for extra fill of up to 1.4 metres to improve agricultural production on the 44-hectare site at 616 Frankston-Dandenong Road, Bangholme.
VCAT member Nick Wimbush said he was not satisfied that the proposed fill depth was justified to improve the pasture and drainage.
Nor did it justify such a “significant change in the landscape of the green wedge”.
“In short what is before me is a significant engineering exercise of unknown cost to accommodate, at best, an increase in carrying capacity from 61 head of cattle (at 1.4 head/hectare) to 87-109 head of cattle (at 2-2.5 head/hectare).”
Mr Wimbush said he needed to balance the desire to improve agriculture with maintaining the Green Wedge’s “open nature”.
“Filling the land to the extent proposed is not an agricultural activity in the same sense as ploughing or fertiliser spreading.
“It is more akin to earthworks associated with a significant construction or mining project.”
CM Innovation Park modified its proposal at VCAT after Greater Dandenong Council refused a planning permit application for up to 2.4 metres of fill and to remove several trees.
At VCAT, the council still opposed the plan, arguing it was inconsistent with the Green Wedge.
It argued that more investigation was required to justify the amount of fill for C M Innovation Park’s alleged grazing “productivity improvements”.
A soil expert for CM Innovation Park recommended significantly improving the pasture to support up to 2.5 head of cattle per hectare – as is typical in west and south Gippsland.
The expert said increasing the top soil from 150 millimetres to 250 millimetres would support deeper-rooted grasses such as cocksfoot and chicory for drier periods, and improve soil drainage.
However Mr Wimbush said he wasn’t satisfied that this was a “realistic objective” or why cocksfoot and chickory were targeted.
“Even with improved pastures this is not Gippsland and there are other factors including climate and soil type and structures that will influence the outcome.”
The site is next door to a controversial, asbestos-riddled soil mound at a flower farm at 576 Frankston-Dandenong Road.
Recently, VCAT upheld an EPA order for ESI Projects Pty Ltd to remove the contaminated soil – which is about 400 metres from Willow Lodge retirement village.
In 2022, VCAT had issued a permit for the site to receive clean fill of a maximum depth of 1.063 metres to facilitate grazing and raised flower beds.
