Keilor family take on Melbourne Airport in fight to rebuild home

AN ELDERLY widow whose Keilor house burnt down has been left without a roof over her head after Melbourne Airport objected to her plans to rebuild - despite being miles from any runway.

Emily Pickett (centre) with her daughters Maria-Jane Pickett (left) and Kathleen Miller at the site of the home which burnt down. Picture: Sarah Matray

AN ELDERLY widow whose Keilor house burnt down has been left without a roof over her head after Melbourne Airport objected to her plans to rebuild - despite being miles from any runway.

Emily Pickett and her daughters are locked in a battle with the airport and Hume Council over plans to rebuild the house, which burnt down three years ago.

But Melbourne Airport has objected to plans to rebuild the single-storey house, due to “safety” and “operational” issues, including “the proximity of the dwelling to the proposed future runways and associated public safety zone”, a Hume Council report states.

Kathleen Miller is pleading with the council to knock back the airport’s objections, and grant a permit to rebuild her 73-year-old mother’s home.

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“Our house existed on that land for 23 years so we’re only asking to put it back there,” Ms Miller told the Leader.

“We don’t care about the noise — we just want our mother to fulfil her wish of being able to die in her own home.”

Emily Pickett, with her daughters Marie-Jane Pickett and Kathleen Miller are fighting to rebuild her house. Picture: Sarah Matray

Ms Miller said tragedy first struck her family in 2010 when her father died suddenly, leaving her mother to live at the property on her own.

“She had two knee replacements in the following years, one of which caused a bone infection that required 12 months of treatment,” she said.

“After her knees were finally fixed, her house burnt down due to a faulty light bulb purchased six months earlier.”

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Ms Miller said she and her sister, Maria-Jane Pickett, quickly started the process of claiming insurance, signing two contracts with separate building companies within 24 months.

However, both companies pulled out of the contracts due to the property’s location near Melbourne Airport, citing unforeseen costs such as double-glazed windows and extra thick insulation.

The site where Ms Miller wants to rebuild her mother’s home. Picture: Sarah Matray

“Now it’s been three years due to a long drawn-out process,” she said.

“We’re very confused about the preclusions put in by the airport as we are already very familiar with the Melbourne Airport Environs Overlay.

“The airport acquired our neighbours’ properties over the last 10 years but we always believed we were on the border.”

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Hume Council’s planning and development director Michael Sharp said it deferred a final decision on a building permit to help facilitate further discussions between council officers, Ms Miller and Melbourne Airport.

Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning spokeswoman Bethany Tyler said the Hume Planning Scheme allowed for a planning permit application to be made for a single-storey dwelling under the Melbourne Airport Environs Overlay, but added a range of factors must be considered before a permit can be issued.

“VCAT is the appropriate forum to consider a review of the matter, should the family wish to review council’s decision when it is made,” she said.

Melbourne Airport did not respond to Leader’s questions before deadline.

@samanthadick00

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