Cement facility fights to expand just 85 metres from Yarraville homes

Inner-west residents say their health and safety are being slowly eroded as a cement manufacturer pushes to intensify its 24/7 operation just 85 metres from the closest home.

The owners of Steel Cement are seeking to significantly increase the capacity of their 10-year-old Yarraville facility by occupying 50 per cent more of the site and crushing more materials that go into making cement.

Sara Puhar with children Freddie, 5, and Luna, 8, near their home in Yarraville.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

The business, which currently grinds slag (a stony waste product from steel production) to then blend into cement, predicts that its expansion would lead to an additional 185 trucks visiting the site each day.

The plan has the support of the Department of Transport and Planning as well as the Environment Protection Authority, despite not meeting the recommendations for cement producers of this intensity to be at least one kilometre from residential zones and 500 metres from any homes, due to the risk of dust emissions.

The closest home is on Frederick Street, in an industrial zone, and the nearest residential zone is about 250 metres away.

However, the EPA approved the development because the business owner’s commissioned air quality assessment – which had not undergone a technical review – met pollution requirements. The authority also placed conditions on the development, including a requirement for the owner to install pollution-control equipment and update air quality and noise reports before construction.

Steel Cement’s existing facility in Yarraville.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

The City of Maribyrnong received 109 community objections in response to the plan, but council staff assessing the proposal recommended its approval in December. Councillors then rejected the idea, citing unacceptable adverse impacts.

Steel Cement appealed the council’s decision in a three-day hearing at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last week.

Mother-of-two Sara Puhar, who was among a group of residents who – along with Maribyrnong council – opposed Steel Cement’s appeal at VCAT, said the expansion plan conflicted with recent efforts to remove heavy trucks from local streets and improve air quality.

The City of Maribyrnong declared a health emergency in 2023 due to heightened rates of illness linked to pollution from diesel fumes and dust.

Puhar grew up in Yarraville and said while she understood that living close to industrial activity came with the territory, the neighbourhood was now full of families.

“There’s a disconnect with what they [authorities] want for the area. Is it industrial or is it for families and children? A decision needs to be made,” she said.

“Unless you’re planning to get rid of the families, industry shouldn’t continue to increase when there are other options.”

Two nearby childcare centres also co-signed a statement warning that the plan posed a direct threat to the health and wellbeing of children, families and staff.

In documents submitted to VCAT, Steel Cement argued the proposed expansion would not affect the safety and amenity of the local community with dust to be managed on the site and truck traffic to be eased by the West Gate Tunnel opening later this year.

“The proposed expansion employs best available techniques and technologies ... so as to ensure risks of any offsite impact are low,” its submission states.

The business also says that in refusing a permit, councillors went “against the well-reasoned, policy-consistent recommendation” of council staff.

The City of Maribyrnong submitted to the tribunal that the business had not provided robust assessments of traffic and air-quality impacts.

“Council has refused this application, even going against the officer recommendation, because in fairness, the application materials lack sufficient and clear detail,” the council states.

“It is simply unknown if the traffic data being relied upon is correct ... [and] without seeing proposed designs for the air-quality filter systems, how can the community be assured that it will work?”

The council warns that it is critical to treat nearby residents with utmost care, as they are most likely to suffer despite living in long-established homes.

Tribunal members presiding over the case will deliver their judgment in coming weeks.

City of Maribyrnong chief executive Celia Haddock said she was confident in the strength of the council’s case and its expert evidence.

A Steel Cement spokeswoman said the facility was state-of-the-art, had received no community complaints in its decade of operation and much of the material it used arrived by ship via its neighbour, the Port of Melbourne.

“The industrial and residential zones abut, and both need to accommodate the other. [Steel Cement] understands the concerns ... and agrees with the residents that poor practices should not be tolerated,” she said.

The Environment Protection Authority declined to comment while the case was still before VCAT.

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