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Related: Hopley urges councillor support
HOPLEY Recycling director Ken Hopley has disputed a number of claims made at Wednesday night’s meeting of City of Greater Bendigo councillors.
Councillors voted to oppose his application to keep using the former White Hills tip site when the matter goes before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in October.
Mr Hopley said he was not surprised that councillors voted 6-3 against the application, but he was surprised at some of their comments.
“I was a little surprised that they stood up and talked about environmental dangers at the site without any facts,” he said.
“They wouldn’t have had any information about environmental dangers.
“Most recycling facilities like this are on former tips sites.”
Councillors Peter Cox, Elise Chapman and Helen Leach supported his application. Cr Chapman spoke about her concerns over council processes on the matter and about the positive impact Hopley Recycling was having on the community.
Other councillors opposed the application on grounds that environmental studies needed to be complete and that Mr Hopley had not been paying rent on the site.
Mr Hopley said he had not been given the opportunity to pay rent.
“I would have sat down and negotiated a rent agreement if the council had arranged for a meeting,” he said.
“But that never happened despite my attempts.”
Mr Hopley said the results of a second round of environmental testing had been kept “under legal privilege” and councillors had not been able to see them.
None of the councillors responded to his invitation to speak with him at the tip former on Wednesday, but the three supporting councillors – and Councillor James Williams – have previously visited the site.
The company has been inspecting a nearby site alongside the Chinese diggings at Haywood link after council suggested the site.
Mr Hopley said he had spent $10,000 investigating the site but was not confident it would gain departmental approval.
He said no other sites in the Bendigo region had been suitable for various environmental and financial reasons.
