Council Receives Agency Responses on Proposed Eulie Piggery

The assessment of the proposed Eulie Piggery has reached a new milestone with Hilltops Council today receiving correspondence from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) in relation to their assessment of the proposal.

The EPA and OEH have both advised that they will not provide General Terms of Approval (GTA) to the proposal and Council are still awaiting a response from Department of Primary Industries Water.

According to Council’s General Manager Anthony McMahon the response from the NSW Agencies significantly influences the remainder of the assessment process.

“In accordance with section 91A (4) of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act, Council is unable to consent to the application, however a full planning assessment that considers all factors in addition to those relevant to the agencies will still need to be undertaken as a legislative requirement.” said Mr McMahon.

Section 91A(4) of the EP&A Act states:

“If the approval body informs the consent authority that it will not grant an approval that is required in order for the development to be lawfully carried out, the consent authority must refuse consent to the application”

It is still likely that the final determination on the application will be made at a meeting in March, however the responses from the EPA and OEH means that Council will have no choice but to refuse the application. Council is required to undertake a full planning assessment report detailing all reasons for refusal.

“It is important for completeness of process and accountability that a full assessment of the application is undertaken so that should any further action result in relation to the proposal all stakeholders are clear on the assessment of the proposal” said Mr McMahon.

There are still several potential scenarios that could unfold in relation to the proposal.

“There are obviously assessment review processes the applicant has available to them and they will need to consider their options.” said Mr McMahon.

“Obviously, the proposal has sparked broad spread interest, so for transparency Council will be making available on its website the correspondence received from the EPA and OEH.” said Mr McMahon.