BendigoWeekly www.bendigoweekly.com.au
ISSUE 1078 FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2018
BACK FLIP Marong plan rejected ● Council to review options ● Mayor ‘disappointed’ ●
By SHARON KEMP
THE state government’s shock rejection of a plan to build a major business park on the outskirts of Marong has sent the City of Greater Bendigo scurrying for alternative sites for the multi-million dollar project. Sites in Marong East, Elmore, Myers Flat, Goornong, Sebastian and Ravenswood could become the business park’s new planned
location, after planning minister Richard Wynne blocked the use of the City’s hard-fought preferred option at Marong. Mayor Margaret O’Rourke has conceded that leading up Mr Wynne’s rejection of a move to compulsorarily acquire 311 hectares of farmland just outside Marong, the council had expected the state government would approve an application to forcibly buy the land owned by unwilling
sellers, the Carter family. There were signs as recently as last August that Mr Wynne was prepared to do just that. In agreeing to rezone the land from farming to comprehensive development, Mr Wynne issued a media release titled “Green light for the Marong Business Park” that included a first sentence reading: “The Andrews Labor government is creating jobs in Bendigo by giving the green light to the
Marong Business Park”. “The Labor government has got the planning right – striking the right balance between protecting nearby users of the land and catering for future requirements of the area,” the release said. “The planning scheme announcement means that the City of Greater Bendigo can now begin the next stage of development of the park.” This week the message from
Mr Wynne was different. “After careful consideration of all the arguments and after legal advice, the minister decided the amendment to the Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme that would allow the acquisition does not further the objectives of planning in Victoria, taking into account relevant social, environmental and economic effects,” said a media release issued by the statement government,” he said.
Continued Page 5Editorial Page 19
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VCAT considers Aspire appeal – Page 3
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