Environment
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Fine-tuning required: says council
Macedon Ranges Shire Council has declined to endorse a localised planning statement until it is fine-tuned. The Macedon Ranges Statement of Planning Policy was formally received at a special meeting of council last Thursday with council officer request for several changes to be made at a state government level including development of ministerial guidelines, a…
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Attack on plastic
Woodend residents joined in a global day of action on Saturday by holding a plastic attack at their local Coles supermarket. A plastic attack is where shoppers simply leave behind the excessive plastic after they have purchased their goods. This puts the emphasis back on the supermarkets to do something about the volume of plastic…
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Farm zone housing still a ripe issue
Olive growers in Pastoria’s east have argued their produce, animals and farm plan would suffer without the constant on-ground care that a house on their property would allow them to deliver. The couple recently lost an appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for a building permit at their 16.25 hectare Langley-Baynton Road property…
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Upgrade pre-empts severe season
With a severe fire season forecast, the state’s environment minister has visited Mount Tarrengower to check progress on the $1 million upgrade of the heritage-listed fire observation tower. “We are coming into a significant high fire risk season,” Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio said on Friday as she and Bendigo West…
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Plans not yet rock solid
Commercial development at Hanging Rock’s East Paddock is unlikely but has not yet been ruled out as Macedon Ranges Shire Council last week adopted its strategic plan to guide decision-making for the precinct over the next 50 years. The long-awaited Hanging Rock Strategic Plan recognises the state and national significance of the precinct, setting out…
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Goats have the goods
Holy Goat Cheese in Sutton Grange is living proof that small farms can be successful farms. The organic farm has taken out the Producer of the Year title in the 2018 delicious. Produce Awards and earned a gold trophy for its Cheese Nectar, as judged by a national judging panel. Owners Carla Meurs and Ann-Marie…
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War on fruit fly
Efforts to avert the threat of fruit fly before it impacts on local fruit and veg producers have been ramped up at Harcourt with the announcement of a new series of state government grants. Bendigo West MP Maree Edwards visited local organic fruit producers, Mount Alexander Fruit Gardens, on Friday to announce just under $20,000…
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Living gently on the land
Environmental warriors Neil and Heather Barrett are well known for their active involvement in business and the community, but it’s their campaigns for green change that have been the couple’s greatest success stories. Heather now coordinates the Hub Plot behind the Hub building which they purchased in 2006, while Neil is chair of the Hub…
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Prison inmates help threatened phascogales
Phascogales in the Barfold area will soon be getting new homes thanks to inmates at Middleton Prison in Castlemaine. The inmates have been hard at work constructing 20 nest boxes for the Campaspe Valley Landcare group suitable for the phascogales, a threatened species found in central Victoria. The distinctive small creatures, known as ‘duan’ by…
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The Wiglesworth waste files
Castlemaine’s Bill Wiglesworth is certainly not the only person calling for a container recycling desposit scheme in the state of Victoria. But he may be the only man in the municipality to take it upon himself to clean up a 2.2km stretch of local highway – solo – and then methodically record every item of…
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Backlash over bike review
Community backlash may force Macedon Ranges Shire Council to reconsider a review of its ban on motorised recreational vehicle use within 500 metres of a house. The local law was adopted five years ago in response to a multitude of complaints about recreational vehicle noise and impact to amenity, but councillors recently voted 5-4 to…
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“Pathetic” – Councillor slams Australia’s recycling inaction
Mount Alexander Shire Council has joined calls for a federal government inquiry into the future of waste and recycling in Australia with a local councillor slamming the nation’s recycling inaction as “pathetic” at last week’s council meeting. Meantime, the federal member for Bendigo Lisa Chesters says the nation’s recycling and waste management is at crisis…