AUGUST 29, 2017 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + THE WEST’S BEST PROPERTY GUIDE
(Dennis Manktelow)
Eggs-cellent program Students at St Albans Heights Primary School are clucking with excitement as they prepare to enter a school chicken in the Royal Melbourne Show egg laying competition. The school started caring for chickens in June, and teacher Rebecca Warren said they had been a fantastic addition to the school program. “The kids all love the chickens, they’ve become one of the highlights of the week for them,” Ms Warren said. “Many of the children don’t have pets, or any experience of farms and caring for animals so it’s a really valuable for them to learn about caring for animals.” The school will enter in the Melbourne Show’s poultry competition, which tests the size and health of the eggs to determine the health of the chicken. The school uses the chickens’ eggs in its breakfast club and a unit has been designed around teaching students about responsible pet ownership. “They’re an important part of the school now,” Ms Warren said. “The grade threes and fours are the main ones working with them now, but next year it might be a different group so everyone gets a good go. “It will be great for the kids going to the show with their families to be able to see the eggs they’ve cared for in the competition.” MONIQUE AND ANH WITH SNOWY THE CHOOK
Ewen McRae
Tip battle goes to VCAT An attempt to overturn a controversial decision to allow expansion of the Ravenhall tip hangs in the balance. Stop the Tip campaigners took their battle to the Victorian Civil and Administration Tribunal on Friday for a preliminary conference with the Environment Protection Authority (EPA). In June, Victorian Planning Minister Richard Wynne approved a planning permit for the expansion of the Melbourne Regional Landfill at Ravenhall to 93 hectares – less
than half the size of the 211 hectares earlier proposed. There were almost 4000 objections to the original proposal and 103 individual submissions, including several that supported the expansion. The EPA gave works approval for the expansion in March. The Stop the Tip group, the driving force behind the campaign against the expansion, has claimed the environment watchdog had “let the west down”. “With all the submissions made to the planning panel, we thought EPA wouldn’t have granted a works approval,” a spokesperson said
at the time of the approval. “I think they’ve let the community down – they’ve let the west down.” The group is now left waiting to find out whether VCAT will accept its right to appeal. But some members feel the EPA is out to discredit the group. One member who attended the preliminary hearing said the EPA referred to the Stop the Tip group as a “Trojan Horse”. “They claim that they do not think our community really exists because we refuse to give them our meeting minutes,” the member posted on Facebook.
“EPA wants VCAT to discount Stop the Tip’s submission about our concerns with odour emitting from Cleanaway’s landfill because EPA does not believe that we are a real community. If our concerns, especially regarding odour, are made negligible then EPA will not have to deal with [them].” The EPA was contacted for comment but did not reply by deadline. If VCAT approves the Stop the Tip bid to appeal, an official hearing is scheduled for October. Brimbank and Melton councils have indicated in the past they also would fight the tip expansion at VCAT.
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