Express MIDLAND
www.midlandexpress.com.au
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
Sweet smell of success
When Sonia and Stuart Whiteman moved from inner city Melbourne to rural Chintin in the Macedon Ranges, they had no plans to become leaders in the lavender oil industry. Full story, page 2.
POWER PARK STALLED Amy Hume
Plans have stalled for a major community renewable energy park to help power Macedon Ranges. The Macedon Ranges Sustainability Group project, south of Woodend, proposes a facility to combine wind energy, a solar plant and battery storage, but now awaits legislative change for progression.
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Earlier this month MRSG president David Gormley-O’Brien estimated a four-year delay on advice that the desired site would require legislative amendments as it was land held under a perpetual licence issued to Hancock Victoria Plantations. “While the analysis so far shows that the plantation site is suitable for such a project in technical, financial and potentially planning terms, the project requires formal
Education Week 2021
access to the land, which is set aside for forestry purposes,” he told stakeholders. “Use of the land for energy production will require a legislative amendment, which the state government has informed us is not a short to medium term priority on the legislative program.” Macedon MP Mary-Anne Thomas's office confirmed last week, "These legislative amendments are not anticipated in
the short term". It's the second major snag for the project more than 10 years in planning. A Liberal state government-imposed blanket ban on windfarms across Macedon Ranges hindered plans back in 2014, which a later Labor state government planning scheme amendment partially lifted to accommodate the project. Continued page 7.
RECOGNISE.
pages 23-32
RECONNECT. REIMAGINE.
pages 19-21
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