Premier’s world-renowned golf club Kingston Heath tees off over his new transport project
The premier’s own elite golf club, Kingston Heath, has teed off over his proposed $34.5bn transport plan near its grounds.
Victoria
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One of the country’s most elite golf courses – that includes Dan Andrews as a member – has teed off with concerns about the premier’s $34.5 billion Suburban Rail Loop.
Kingston Heath Golf Club in Cheltenham is across the road to where the government plans to build a train maintenance and storage yard for its new mega project.
The club has so far kept a low profile about the proposal, which has outraged local residents.
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But in a submission to a planning and environment inquiry for the SRL East, which would run between Cheltenham and Box Hill, the internationally-renowned course has come out swinging about noise, visual impacts and water contamination risks.
The submission notes the only point at which trains would emerge along the entire 26km rail tunnel would be across the road from the course, where trains could divert into the stabling facility.
“Limited information is available in relation to the acoustic impacts which might arise from the 100km/h through-tracks at ground level, the ordinary operation of the stabling facility and also during the eight year construction phase and, critically, the quasi-industrial maintenance activities which will be undertaken on the site,” it says.
Residents are in uproar over the decision to house the facility on green wedge land, with some homes just a 2-iron from its 24/7 operations.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan has previously said the former clean landfill site was “the best location to enable this transformative train network to deliver the best possible services”, however.
Submissions from dozens of locals have poured into the Environmental Effects Statement inquiry, which is set to begin public hearings next month.
Kingston Heath Golf Club echoes many of those concerns and also raises the need for protection of wildlife.
“Kingston Heath Golf Course provides a safe sanctuary for much local bird life. The impact of 24 hour/day construction activity involving noise and artificial lighting on the golf club habitat should be considered,” it says.
“This environmental asset could also be adversely impacted by dust and contaminated groundwater.”
Other internationally-renowned courses have also raised concerns about groundwater contamination, including those near to a proposed Cheltenham station across the road from Southland Shopping Centre.
A submission by experts from Victoria Golf Club, on behalf of it and the country’s top-ranked course the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, says any impact on quality or quantity of water for irrigation would be disastrous.
It raises fears that groundwater drawdown impacts would be significant during construction and will have a “negative bearing on the water table upon which the golf clubs rely”.
A lack of drilling in the area that would impact the courses was an “omission” that needed to be rectified.
Careful planning would also be required to ensure there is no contamination to water caused by construction near the former Lucas Batteries site and the former Highett Gasworks.
Despite the government claiming 20,000 people have been consulted online about the project, the clubs say that “there has not been a single contact with the major golf course irrigators” they have “even though several requests have been made to have a ‘groundwater specialist’ meet with us on-site”.
Public hearings for the EES are set to begin in February.
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