Eve Lamb
A VCAT hearing to determine if a large promotional advertising hoarding can be erected at a major entryway to Castlemaine has now been adjourned to November.
A hearing before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal was scheduled for Friday July 29 with the applicant behind the proposed advertising structure seeking to overturn a decision by Mount Alexander Shire Council to refuse a planning permit for the hoarding.
Applicant James Course of Gawk Outdoor (originally Regional Billboard Co) hopes to establish the large advertising hoarding at Chewton on the main road into Castlemaine in the vicinity of the Castlemaine Pistol Club frontage.
The council in February unanimously voted to refuse the application for the structure, measuring 8.25 metres in length and a maximum 5.1 metres in height with a display face of 8.3 metres wide by 2.1 metres high, at 188 Duke Street.
The application had attracted 16 formal objections.
Among those also party to the hearing and hoping to argue their own case against overturning the earlier council decision, is local resident Joel Meadows who says he and others are continuing to explore avenues to prevent it going ahead.
“The matter has been adjourned until November 30th due to the discrepancy of the application being for a ‘promotional sign’, but commissioner Slattery took the fixed ‘Regional Billboard Co’ logo under the billboard as being additional signage space, and that pushed it over the 18m2 to being a ‘major promotional sign’,” Mr Meadows told the Express.
“She said that James Course could either amend the plans to make the total signage area under 18m2, or re-apply for a planning application as a major promotional sign. Mr Course indicated he was likely to take the ‘path of least resistance’, and amend the plans to keep it under 18m2.”
In the lead up to the recent VCAT hearing, Mr Meadows and other objectors had held a public gathering and dressed in red to demonstrate their opposition to the proposed billboard.
The Castlemaine local, who’s among objectors who would be living in close proximity to the hoarding if it were to proceed, had hoped to submit the photographs to the VCAT commissioner to demonstrate local public opposition to the proposal.
“The commissioner (on July 29) was clear she would hear no submissions at all, including photos of community objectors,” he told the Express.
“She only wanted to clarify the issue of the sign’s size and whether that made it a ‘major’ promotional sign, or just a promotional one.”
Mr Meadows said there was talk of trying to get council to adopt a ‘signage and billboard policy’.
‘This won’t help with this case, but might make it harder for billboard entrepreneurs in the future,” he said.
“We may also try to have a meeting with Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards or the planning minister to talk about trying to tighten state planning regulations around this issue.
“The state rules are pretty loose, and really leave the gate open for billboards on industrial land. Only a switched-on council
planning department or switched-on community stand between the billboard entrepreneurs and there being billboards in the
industrial blocks of every country town.”
Esther Ten Brink is another local objector concerned about the potential impact of the proposed billboard on visual amenity.
“It will just be clutter in the landscape. I don’t want to see the advertisements,” she said.
Councillors at their February meeting had been tasked with deciding whether to vote in favour of an officer recommendation to refuse the proposal on grounds that the sign would have a detrimental impact on the historic, cultural and natural character of a key gateway into Chewton and Castlemaine.
At that meeting, Cr Stephen Gardner had moved the motion in favour of refusal.
“Having a dirty great big billboard as you enter Chewton is not a good outcome as far as I can see,” Cr Gardner said.
Cr Gary McClure provided a seconder for the motion of refusal, which was then unanimously carried.
