Dear Editor,
The Ballarat Courier published an article on 6 December about a plan to erect five 12-metre high ‘Sky barrels’ on land adjoining the Cornish Hill Mining Precinct, near Lake Daylesford. The planning application (PA 3333) has been lodged with Hepburn Shire Council and is available on the Council website. Earlier this year a similar plan, for ‘Sky barrels’ on Mount Buninyong, was rejected by both Ballarat City Council and VCAT (Clifftop at Hepburn Pty Ltd v Ballarat CC (2021}) VCAT 910) as visually inappropriate. The Buninyong community was united in its opposition: there were 57 objections to the plan and the Council vote was unanimous.
At present the Hepburn Shire Council is assessing a repeat application by Clifftop@Hepburn for a glamping caravan park at Charlies Road Elevated Plains (‘Woodstock Glamping’). The original application for the caravan park was rejected by both the Council and VCAT, largely on the grounds of fire risk.
I find it very disturbing that our Council may eventually have to waste money and time on fighting this Daylesford ‘Sky barrels’ case at VCAT when there are so many other pressing issues requiring the attention of Council (climate change, defence against COVID, bushfire risk). I fail to see how a development that was deemed inappropriate in the Mount Buninyong rural living zone can possibly be appropriate in the vicinity of a mining heritage project.
Name supplied,
Mt Franklin.
