Council says XXXX should be allowed more ethanol tanks next to church land
By Cloe Read
Plans to expand the XXXX brewery in Milton should go ahead, the Brisbane City Council says, despite a legal challenge by the Anglican Church.
For months, the brewery and its neighbour have been at odds over the brewery’s plan to install three 40,000-litre ethanol storage tanks, which it says it requires to make a more diverse range of drinks, including seltzers.
The XXXX brewery at Milton wants the ethanol tanks to produce more drinks that aren’t beer.
However, the plans have been under a cloud since the Corporation of the Synod of the Diocese of Brisbane, which owns land to the west of the brewery, took the council’s approval to court, citing concerns including air quality and a risk to public safety.
It argued the development should be refused on several grounds, claiming there was “substantial risk” to public safety, property and the environment, as the plan involved the transfer of up to 120,000 litres of ethanol, a class 3 flammable liquid.
But the council has since responded in court to the claim. It reiterated its decision to approve the development, attaching its records that stated there was compliance with air quality, spill management and stormwater treatment criteria, and the plans maintained the heritage significance of the brewery.
The XXXX brewery in Milton borders land owned by the Anglican Church.
The council submitted the land was already approved for use as an ethanol tanker unloading bay, and had been for more than three years. It said the proposed development complied with all relevant assessment benchmarks in the City Plan.
Global beverages giant Lion, which owns the brewery, submitted that the development application complied, or could be conditioned to comply, with assessment benchmarks relied upon by the church. But it argued any non-compliance was not enough to warrant the refusal of the development application.
It said the brewery, or the church land, was not in a “sensitive zone”, as defined in the City Plan, to meet higher standards for air quality. Nonetheless, Lion argued, the application had been approved subject to compliance with an improved air quality report, venting of the bulk ethanol tanks, and the vent condenser system to achieve an ethanol reduction efficiency of a minimum of 98 per cent.
“The proposed location of the bulk ethanol tanks is on an area of hardstand already used for ethanol storage in accordance with the 2020 approval,” Lion’s legal team wrote.
“The development application would not be attended by any unacceptable adverse impacts in respect of air quality or hazardous goods.”
Documents showed the approximate volume of alcoholic beverages produced on site for the year ending 2023 was 190 million litres.
A review for the case was scheduled for October.
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