SEPTEMBER 18, 2018 \ STARWEEKLY.COM.AU
NEWS + SPORT + PROPERTY GUIDE
Darley sand mine bid By Sumeyya Ilanbey
Pride on the line Melton will turn maroon for the Bloods this weekend. The Melton Football Club senior men’s team has made it through to the Ballarat Football League grand final for the first time in 13 years. Club president Greg Davis said it had “been quite a long time coming”. Of the 22 players in the team, 21 have come up through the ranks, playing with the club’s juniors. “It’s been three-and-a-half years in the making to get the Bloods out to a grand final,” Davis said. “We’ve been bringing the boys up, coaching them and holding on to them for the senior’s team. “These guys have stayed around and they’ll hopefully get their grand win this weekend.” Davis said the Bloods, like football clubs everywhere, were the heart and soul of their community and involved in a range of philanthropic work. The Melton Football Club holds numerous fundraisers, including one for cystic fibrosis research this year that raised more than $13,000. “And through the football clubs a lot of young men and women get jobs,” Davis said. Sumeyya Ilanbey Melton Football Club coach Aaron Tymms, president Greg Davis and assistant coach Bob Heany (front), with the team and life member Mick Simpkins. (Dennis Manktelow)
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There are plans to turn a former World War II training camp in Darley into a sand mine. Zhong Yin Group Australia is proposing to operate a 15.8-hectare open pit quarry at 48 Camerons Road, Darley, with access to the site from 222 Lerderderg Gorge Road. Project manager Andrew Helps told Star Weekly that truckloads of sand from other parts of the state were already being used in Bacchus Marsh and the western suburbs. Mining sand from the area was the “logical” solution, he said. “There are already two sand mines in the area working the same deposit,” Mr Helps said. “If you look at the recent utterings of state governments, one of the critical issues in the western suburbs is shortage of construction material. “There’s a whole lot of uses for this deposit [sand], which has been at the site for a long time … we’re doing the logical extension of the mining that’s already going on.” Ahead of applying for a permit from the Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources, and a planning permit from Moorabool council, Zhong Yin Group Australia is required to hold community information sessions. One has been planned for 7pm tonight (September 18) at Bacchus Marsh Golf Club. “When it comes to quarries, this one is about as benign as it gets,” Mr Helps said. “There won’t be any blasting … we may have to [blast] in the future, but we’d certainly seek permission.” If the project goes ahead, the site will be fenced with a 2.5-metre high cyclone fence and a two-metre earthen beam inside to screen the quarry. Nearby property owners will be given the opportunity to sell their houses to Zhong Yin Group Australia. Mr Helps said the company was also open to work with VicRoads to improve the road network near the site. But several residents have expressed their concerns about the project, particularly about traffic, noise and dust. “I’m concerned about access with traffic … as a resident that’s going to be a crow’s fly 50 metres from the boundary, the peace and tranquility we have here will be lost,” Darley woman Allison said. Noel Langshaw lives on Camerons Road. He says he was hoping to retire and live there for the rest of his life. “I’m not going to be able to do that anymore,” Mr Langshaw says. “We’ve been here for over 20 years.”
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