Council
26 May, 2023
Community consultation ‘disappointing’
MOYNE Shire councillors have hit out at the developers of the proposed Garvoc Wind Farm, expressing disappointment at what they claim has been a lack of consultation.
Mayor Karen Foster will write to state ministers expressing the council’s disappointment.
At Tuesday’s council meeting, deputy mayor Cr Daniel Meade moved a notice of motion that council express its disappointment in relation to the lack of communication and engagement of ratepayers, community and council by the windfarm proponent, RE Future.
A planning application for a Garvoc wind farm was recently lodged with the Department of Transport and Planning. Cr Meade also called for the mayor to express, in writing, the council’s disappointment to relevant state ministers Sonya Kilkenny and Lily D’Ambrosio as well as RE Future.
The letter will also seek a meeting with the ministers. The motion was unanimously supported. Cr Foster said the actions of the company in lodging its application before any consultation with the broader community was incredibly disappointing.
“It’s standard for a company to engage with the council and the community ahead of lodging the application, but that didn’t happen in this situation,” she said.
“It’s disappointing and goes to the point we have been making about social license for wind farms being non-existent. Actions like this don’t help the situation.”
Cr Meade added it was important to let the ministers know about council and the community’s disappointment with how this application has played out.
“The minister has all the decision-making power when it comes to renewable energy developments, so we need to ensure they know how disappointed we and the community are with how this has played out,” he said.
“As we’ve said, wind farm companies need to start building their social license and their trust within the community. Lodging an application before any consultation with impacted neighbours does the opposite and erodes trust.”
