Goat stink reaches City Hall
LARA residents opposed to a goat farm demanded answers from council last night, flocking to City Hall to have their say at the City of Greater Geelong meeting.
About 220 opponents to the 4500-goat farm turned out and lodged a petition with about 2450 signatures.
Many were wearing Tshirts and carrying signs saying “Lara say no to Nuchev”, and some chanted “No to Nuchev” before the meeting.
Mayor Bruce Harwood called it the “biggest issue” of the night at the start of the meeting.
However, concerned residents will have to wait for answers, as the council waits for advice.
One woman broke down in tears while asking the council if they were aware of the risks of Q fever and whether they could guarantee children would be safe.
Cr Harwood told the meeting the council was aware of the “situation at hand”, but was still waiting for officer advice before it was able to relay accurate information back to the community.
He said he had been assured council would have the information needed next month.
Councillors were also asked if they would consider supporting the community in objecting to the VCAT decision to allow the proposal to proceed, but Cr Harwood again pointed to council waiting on advice.
Campaign leader Bronwen Baker also lodged a second petition from AWH, a company on Forest Rd South, asking council to lodge an appeal with VCAT.
Geelong’s administrators approved the proposal by Nuchev — a goats’ milk formula company — for two goat farms at Moorabool and Lara in July 2016.
Lara opponents decided on lobbying council to appeal to VCAT and seek to have the planning permit overturned.
Ms Baker has said she was encouraged by a VCAT decision that saw a ruling in favour of Moorabool protesters.
On Monday, Nuchev said: “We have an approved planning permit, which has already been through a VCAT process, we are unaware of any recourse that is available to reverse the decision.”