Residents who live near a proposed broiler farm at Baringhup are preparing for what they say will likely be a last ditch attempt to scuttle the project.
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The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal overturned a Mount Alexander Shire council decision to knock back the proposal in 2015, a move supported by the Supreme Court earlier this month.
Residents group Save the Moolort Plains is now planning to appeal the Supreme Court decision in the Court of Appeal.
Spokeswoman Marg Lewis said the group was now planning a further bid to stop the development this week, after raising half their target of $75,000 to fund the court action within a week.
“We’re just on the halfway mark so we’re pretty pleased with that within a week, which I think says something about the community’s concern about having these broiler farms built in their midst,” she said.
“I was sitting at the station the other day and a woman just came up and said I heard about [the fundraiser], here’s $100.”
Ms Lewis said a handful of nearby farmers had so far footed the bulk of the legal bill, which had run into the hundreds of thousands, driven by environmental and economic concerns.
“It’s a biodiversity hot spot and there’s about 50 wetlands scattered across it that are used by all sorts of migratory birds, so it’s quite a unique area and to turn around and stick these massive concrete and iron sheds in it just doesn’t sit well with most people who live locally and understand what the area is like,” she said.
“There’s a lot of tourism in the area, Baringhup’s very close to Maldon and tourism and agriculture really underpin the economy of the area – it’s a big concern for B and Bs and caravan parks around Cairn Curran.
“Who’s going to want to come and stay if they’re going to get inundated with odour?”
Applicant and director of the company behind the development Pavilion Partners, Michael Vukadinovic, could not be reached for comment.
The broiler farm application, first lodged in 2013, received 900 objections at the time.