HORSHAM Rural City Council is set to defend a decision to block an expansion of a mineral sands waste disposal site.
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Global mining company Iluka Resources, worth $2.4 billion, will start the main hearings of its appeal in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal on November 7.
Councillors voted in June this year to reject Iluka’s application to continue and expand its disposal site at Douglas, about 50 kilometres south-west of Horsham.
Some landowners near the Douglas site have fought for years against a plan for larger disposal pits, claiming the low-level radioactive waste posed a threat to groundwater.
Horsham council planning and economic director Angela Murphy said she expected the case to be argued over 12 days within a span of three weeks.
Ms Murphy said even though the tribunal had put the issue on its fast track, a decision could take up to six weeks after the final hearing.
Ms Murphy did not comment on what she thought the outcome would be.
“That will be up to the tribunal to decide,” she said.
An Iluka spokesman said the company had met all its regulatory requirements in preparing its planning application and its proposal had been examined by independent experts from the state government.
“The tribunal is an appropriate, independent administrative body to assess the factual aspects of this matter,” he said. “As such, it is not appropriate that Iluka provide a running commentary on the hearing or any contentions that may be made.”
Horsham council has previously estimated it would have to spend $30,000 to $50,000 on legal fees to defend the decision.
It is possible that Horsham council’s lawyers will have to argue against the council’s own planning department report, which originally recommended Iluka’s application be approved.
Documents presented to the tribunal show Horsham council’s defence would rely on the argument that the complex technical and environmental issue should have been handled by the state government.
At the June special meeting, councillors argued that council would assume responsibility for ongoing monitoring and compliance at the Douglas site.
At the end of its lifespan, parts of the Douglas site would be closed off indefinitely to the public.