In 2018, Council resolved to oppose all new wind farms unless certain recommendations made by the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner in 2017 were implemented by the State Government. These recommendations are now out of date, therefore Council is revising its position on wind farm development in the Shire.
As a part of this process Council is calling for public submissions on the following draft wind farm position statement.
Moyne Shire Council strongly recommends that the State Government pauses the issuing of all wind farm planning permits in the Shire until strategic land use planning in the South West Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) is completed in consultation with Moyne Shire and other affected Councils and communities. REZ planning should include:
- Wind farm development buffers placed around towns/townships
- A methodology developed to assess cumulative impacts, and used to assess all future planning permit applications
- An agreed cap on development for Moyne Shire (development threshold of number of turbines or density limits)
- Significant strategic long term economic and social benefits for host communities
- Undergrounding of high voltage power lines where technically feasible, or otherwise powerline sharing
- A decommissioning policy
Written submissions will be received by Council until 5 pm 30 June 2022. Submissions can be made by:
- Online form
- post to Moyne Shire Council Offices, Princes Street (PO Box 51), Port Fairy 3284;
- to moyne@moyne.vic.gov.au Please place “Draft Wind Farm Position” in the title of your email.
Council may wish to publish submissions on the Council website, with personal details redacted. Please mark your submission “Confidential” if you do not want it published.
Alongside this submission process Council will be engaging with Moyne Youth using the NextGen! engagement process and has also contracted JWS Research and National Field Services to run an independent telephone survey of 400 randomly selected Moyne residents from across the Shire.
Council expects a range of views will be received during consultation. Some of these may be conflicting views. All comments will be thoroughly considered and used to finalise Council’s position. We will prepare a report that summarises the comments received and how they have been considered. We will publish the revised position on our website and inform submitters via email.