VNI West: Landowners says TCV is ‘being dishonest’ over land access claims

Transmission Company Victoria says it has signed 150 land access agreements, but a number of landholders have rubbished the claims.

Landowners affected by the proposed VNI West transmission line say the company building the project is inflating the number of land access agreements signed to make it appear it has broad support.

Transmission Company Victoria, a subsidiary of Australia’s energy market operator tasked with building the 500kV transmission line connecting Victoria to New South Wales, has claimed it has land access agreements in place for about 150 properties along the draft route.

A TCV spokesman said the current preferred easement for the Victorian section of VNI West covers about 220 properties, and to date, field surveys have been conducted on more than 180 private properties with landholder consent.

But a number of landowners whose properties are dissected by the proposed VNI West easement rubbished these figures and said resistance to the project remains high.

VNI WEST landowners, including Barry Batters, are angered by the plan to build 40m to 65m towers across their land to carry 500kV power lines into NSW. Picture: Zoe Phillips

“They’re not being truthful,” Sutherland farmer Barry Batters said. “We’ve been talking to people along the line … for the first 140km (of the 240km route) I don’t think there would be one person who has signed,” Mr Batters, who has a section of the proposed route along 4.5km of his property, said.

A TCV spokesman said specialists have completed more than 500 field surveys, including more than 180 on private properties with landholder consent.

“We are not getting that picture from all the people we are talking to and I’ve been to all the (community) meetings. I would have said it’s a misrepresentation. They’re not being very clear,” Mr Batters said.

Gooroc grain grower Gerald Feeny, whose property is across the road from the easement, was among a group of affected landowners who drove the length of the easement to gauge the level of support for the project.

“From Bulgana, to north of Charlton, it is very blocked off. They’re being dishonest about the length of line they have signed off,” he said. “They’re fiddling with figures to show that it’s done and dusted but we know that’s not true. No one has rolled over.”

Another landowner who did not want to be named whose property is in the path of the proposed route said he believed TCV was “fabricating figures to make us think it’s happening”.

TCV was granted a Victorian electricity transmission licence in February, giving it powers to enter properties where a voluntary agreement cannot be reached under Section 93 of the Electricity Industries Act 2000.

Victoria’s Essential Services Commission’s land access dashboard shows 17 private land parcels were accessed in February this year.

Construction of the line, which runs from Bulgana to near Kerang and then across the border into NSW, is scheduled to begin if all approvals have been obtained, next year.