By VANESSA VALENZUELA
A FORMER landfill site in Albion could be home to a new major regional sporting facility in the next 10 years.
Brimbank City Council released the results of the Phase 2 Environmental Assessment at Sunshine Energy Park in Albion and Carrington Drive Reserve in St Albans last week.
The investigation revealed the two former landfills posed no imminent environmental hazards to the community and stated council would continue to monitor the two former landfills on an on-going basis.
General Manager of Infrastructure and Environment Paul Younis said council had investigated appropriate uses for the site and identified the former landfill in Albion as a possible site for a major sporting facility.
“We’ve flagged it as a potential site for a regional sports facility and we’ve done some concept work in relation to how it could work,” Mr Younis said.
He said there was a high demand for a major regional sporting facility in the area but there would still be at least a 10 year wait before any facilities were built on the site.
“There’s a long way to go to get to that point. Not only funding but all of the issues we need to work through to get that up, but that’s certainly been identified and it’s in our sports development plan, to do some serious investigations and work in relation to the future use of this as a major regional sports facility.”
As part of the Phase 2 Environmental Assessment tests, 15 new monitoring boreholes have been installed to test the landfill gas and examine groundwater quality. No contaminants were found in groundwater outside the landfill boundaries that would be considered a risk to residents. The assessment also showed there was no immediate concern about the levels of landfill gas at both sites.
Environmental auditor Ken Mival of URS Australia said the site would be suitable for a sporting facility, but would need to be monitored closely by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) and Brimbank Council.
“If there is still landfill gas being generated, and at the moment there is, that will obviously have to be controlled and any use of the sports facility would have to take that into account,” Mr Mival said.
A Phase 3 report detailing the results of the investigations and further recommendations will be produced by environmental consultants GHD for Council later this year.
