By Natalie Gallenti
PLANNING applicants will be forced to adhere to stringent new requirements if they want to build close to landfill sites in Brimbank.
Under new Environment Protection Authority (EPA) guidelines, some planning applicants will be required to commission environmental audits of their sites if they are near landfills.
At last week’s meeting, the Brimbank Council considered the operation of the EPA’s Landfill Best Practice Environmental Management guideline which applies to planning applications for sites within 500 metres of landfills containing rotting waste, and 200 metres of landfills of solid inert wastes, such as building materials.
Stuart Menzies, the council’s acting general manager of city development, said the revised guidelines by the EPA were in response to land gas migration in 2008 from the Cranbourne landfill to a nearby housing estate.
“In general, the EPA’s landfill guidelines aim to maintain adequate buffer zones between landfills and new housing and other developments to ensure occupants are not affected by gas migration,” Mr Menzies said.
“This means that some planning applicants will need to submit environmental audits to the council before they can obtain a planning permit.”
However, Mr Menzies said there was no need to panic.
