King Valley locals powerless to stop $750m solar farm, as Allan government grants permit
The proposed solar farm will take up prime agricultural land the size of 280 MCGs in Victoria’s picturesque King Valley, with the permit granted despite more than 500 objections.
The Allan government has given planning approval for what will become one of Australia’s largest solar farms — on prime agricultural land in Victoria’s northeast — in what an eminent planning expert has described as the “autocratic imposition of a project without any regard for the principles of a liberal democracy.”
Neighbours of the proposed $750m, 566ha, 332 megawatt Meadow Creek Solar Farm and 250 megawatt battery, on land the size of 280 MCGs in the King River catchment south of Wangaratta, learnt late on Friday that the project had been approved.
Planning laws enacted by the state government last year to fast-track renewables projects have left the local community with no avenue for appeal, despite more than 500 objections being submitted.
Concerns include impacts on endangered species, contamination of nearby watercourses, increased fire risk, and the associated likelihood that neighbours will be uninsurable.
RMIT Emeritus Professor of Environment and Planning Michael Buxton said the Commonwealth’s Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act was triggered by the fact that at least three endangered species — including the rare Sloane’s froglet, bandy-bandy snake and gang-gang cockatoo — were likely to be impacted by the project.
Prof Buxton said the “really disturbing” aspect of the project was that it would be built in “one of the most beautiful landscapes in the state, and it’s now being turned into a quasi industrial plant.”
“If a project like this can go in a beautiful place like the King Valley, it can go anywhere, and it is going anywhere,” he said.
“It’s an autocratic imposition of a project without any regard for principles of a liberal democracy. That’s the worrying thing, that governments are just overriding all the normal principles.”
In a letter sent to neighbours of the proposed solar farm late on Friday, the Victorian government advised that in accordance with the Planning and Environment Act, a permit “has been issued under delegation from the Minister for Planning.”
“While the application is exempt from the review rights of section 82(1) of the Act, and no appeal may be made to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, your objection was considered in the assessment of the application,” the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning letter stated.
Meadow Creek Agricultural Community Action Group spokeswoman Jess Conroy runs a cattle farm next door to the proposed solar facility with her husband, John, and his family.
“Like many others, our community has been ignored by the Allan government,” Ms Conroy said.
“Our community was told very early on from an insider that the project had been ‘rubber stamped’ and that we were wasting our time objecting to it. This now appears true.”
The Conroys said it was evident from the government’s assessment document that they had “taken verbatim” the consultants’ report submitted on behalf of the proponent, and completely ignored a report submitted by highly regarded University of Melbourne agronomist Dr John Webb Ware, who described the proponent’s report as “misleading” and said it understated the agricultural productivity of the property and region significantly.
Dr Webb Ware found the proponent’s consultant had used a rainfall statistic which was 25 per cent lower than actual rainfall in the area, was “overly pessimistic” about the agricultural utility of soil types on the property, and made an “incorrect” claim that the land was of low value.
Independent federal MP for Indi Helen Haines said the decision was “very disappointing for community members.”
“This outcome reinforces why meaningful community engagement by developers must happen from the very start. I’ve long championed this approach, and I’ll continue to do so when parliament debates the new nature laws next week,” Dr Haines said in reference to the Albanese government’s proposed overhaul of the EPBC Act.
Tim McCurdy, the Nationals’ state MP for Ovens Valley, said Labor had pushed through the permit for the large-scale solar development despite objections from more than 500 local farmers, landholders and water authorities.
“This whole process stinks of arrogance and political interference,” he said.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking warned that the state’s fast tracked rollout of renewable energy projects was eroding public confidence.
He said local volunteers often bear the brunt of the risks associated with new infrastructure, including fires.
“I think governments have got to learn to listen to the communities and they’ve got to learn to respect the viewpoint of those who will be the ones left to deal with it if it’s a fire, if it’s flooding — whatever the impacts might be,” Mr Hosking said.
ADDITiONAL REPORTING: Mohammad Alfares
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