TODAY
25o Showers
28o 25o 19o 17o SAT
SUN
MON
TUE
www.wangarattachronicle.com.au
Phone (03) 5723 0100
FRIDAY, November 11, 2022
Weekend Edition $1.50
FAMILY CONNECTION
INC. GST
Trains staying off the rails
JOHN Brown (left) and Robin Gibb (right) will follow in the footsteps of their grandfathers John F. Brown and John T. Gibb, when they lay a wreath this morning on Remembrance Day, marking the 100th anniversary of the unveiling of the Oxley Shire Soldiers Memorial. Story page 2 PHOTO: Kurt Hickling
Page 3
A wise career choice Page 14
Saintly recruit for Magpies Sport
SOLAR FLARE UP Meadow M d C Creek k ggroup p rallies lli over p proposed p d solar l p project j on p prime i ffarm lland d
A GROUP of landholders in the King Valley have formed a community action group to prevent development of a massive solar farm on OxleyMeadow Creek Road. The project is proposed to be up to a 330MW site, one of the biggest in Australia, which could potentially produce enough clean energy to power 110,000 regional homes. The project covers up to 1400 acres with an estimated build cost into the hundreds
BY SHANE DOUTHIE sdouthie@ nemedia.com.au
of millions of dollars, which will include a huge battery and sub-station, completed and producing power in 2024. Spokesperson for the Meadow Creek Agriculture Community Action Group, John Conroy, said local residents and surrounding communities have been
“left reeling” in the wake of what they believe is an “illconceived proposal” to turn so much highly fertile and productive land into a solar farm. “While there is no denying that Australia must move to a more sustainable future, it is vital that this transition occurs without jeopardising our nation’s food security,” Mr Conroy said. “In the battle to address the dangers faced by climate change, it is imperative that
we move to a green future and clean energy is vital to achieving this. “However, in a country as vast and sun soaked as Australia, it is a staggering blow to common sense to suggest that our nation’s food security need be threatened in the process.” The proposed Meadow Creek Solar Farm was being developed by a local landholder in conjunction with DNV (Norwegian owned), who just purchased
Clean Technology Partners. Working from the north-east boundary of the proposed site, across to the north-west boundary, these lines would have to go through one of several adjoining property routes. Mr Conroy said the development manager for the project, Cameron Munro, made mention the developers would “try other avenues if none of the above routes were successful in negotiation
CH CHECK OUT THE LATEST LISTINGS LA ON OUR NEW
WEBSITE! W
with the landowners”. A hastily convened community meeting at the Bobinawarrah Hall was attended by 85-plus people including Ovens Valley MP Tim McCurdy, and rural city councillors Harvey Benton and Dave Fuller. According to Mr Conroy, the “entire community at the meeting were against the proposal, and wanted it to continue to be prime agricultural land”. ■ Continued page 6