SAVE WILLIAMSTOWN
SAVE WILLIAMSTOWN
New housing estate too close - Mobil’s concerns reported in The Age as VCAT starts to hear Stage 2 Application
The Age
February 3, 2014
Richard Willingham
Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/new-housing-estate-too-close-20140202-31v3w.html#ixzz2sIPfzwWR
“Too cosy: Mobil warning over new Williamstown development.
A Williamstown residential development is dangerously close to Mobil's Gellibrand plant and could jeopardise operations and fuel supply to Victoria, the company has warned.
Evolve Development plans to transform the old Port Phillip Woollen Mills site into a residential centre including high-rise apartments and townhouses. It already has approval to build 120 apartments and seven townhouses.
Mobil's Altona refinery is spread over several locations, including the Gellibrand Tank Farm and Point Gellibrand Wharf, which are near the proposed development. The tank farm is a major hazard facility.
A VCAT hearing this week is due to a hear an appeal from Evolve after the local council did not approve stage 2, for 40 townhouses and 130 apartments.
In a statement of evidence, Mobil says it is concerned that development may impede the access of emergency services to the Gellibrand site.
''The area can be heavily congested and high-density residential encroachment, without appropriate upgrades to road sizing, has the potential to impede the safe evacuation of residents,'' it says.
It also warns that an emergency would create extra anxiety in the area that would see a greater demand for emergency services to deal with large masses of people, rather than the primary incident.
Mobil also has concerns about noise and light restrictions from new residents hampering its operation, possibly making the use of Gellibrand Wharf economically unfeasible.
''Any restrictions on berth usage would reduce Mobil Altona Refinery's throughput and threaten the refinery's ability to provide the Victorian marketplace with refined fuels, including petrol and diesel for road users and jet fuel for the airport,'' the Mobil statement says.
Evolve managing director Ashley Williams - businessman Ron Walker is a partner in the project - said the application had complied with all the planning controls implemented when the precinct was rezoned in 2012....”
Note by SW
Unfortunately a VCAT Practice Day Decision on 1 November 2013 required Mobil to remove “Safety” and presenting a “Safety Expert Report” from its VCAT Statement of Reasons if it failed to allow the developer’s legal team to see the Safety Case.
The Statement of Reasons is a document completed by all objecting parties prior to the VCAT hearing which sets out the grounds on which objections are to be made. Like “Terms of Reference”, this can constrain what is presented in verbal and written submissions in the hearing.
Mobil initially refused to produce the Safety Case and thus had to remove Safety from its objections, only to have the next Practice Day hearing 15th November still require it to produce the Safety Case to the Developer’s legal team and later to the Developer’s Safety Experts.
The Safety Case is an 8000 page highly confidential set of documents which is prepared by Mobil as a licenced Major Hazard Facility operator to be approved by Worksafe on a 5 year cycle. The last one was in 2012. It is confidential because it contains information covered by the anti-terrorism legislation and since 9/11 many countries in the world have legislation which makes documents such as MHF Safety Cases highly confidential.
Tuesday, 4 February 2014