A major environmental group says it is shocked the government is pushing ahead with a plan to build a green waste facility on Canberra's western fringe while the surrounding area's ecological value is still being assessed.
The Conservation Council ACT said the site the government is seeking to rezone for a new green waste drop-off site south-west from Holt sat right in the middle of ecologically sensitive land, and the government needed to be upfront about its long-term plans for the area.
If the proposed green waste facility is built, there would be the risk of potentially harmful runoff towards the Molonglo River, the council said.
"The site is a former vineyard that is part of a blue-green ecological network of nature reserves, and other area-based conservation measures, connected by ecological corridors to the Molonglo River, according to the Belconnen District Strategy 2023," the council's executive director, Simon Copland, said.
"It includes farms producing food and wool and forms a rural landscape backdrop which gives local residents, who live in the expanding suburban sprawl, access to scenic beauty and recreation."
Dr Copland said the council was concerned the development was proposed in Canberra's western edge, an area whose environmental values the government claimed were still being investigated.
"We are shocked that the ACT government is pushing forward with placing this suburban waste infrastructure in the Western Edge Investigation Area (WEIA), when it also says 'there has been no government decision made as to whether any development will proceed in the WEIA," Dr Copland said in a statement.
"Even more concerning, the block is situated in Central Molonglo, which the government removed 'in perpetuity from being considered as a future urban area' in 2008. This is an area where farmers make a living, and a haven for our slow-growing box-gum grassy woodland and iconic wildlife."
The Conservation Council has called on the government to rule out any suburban development in the land to the west of Canberra's metropolitan area, known as the western edge.
The Trevaskis family, which owns the neighbouring farm to the proposed green waste site, are also concerned the facility would threaten one of the territory's few remaining working farms and jeopardise the environment.
The ACT government has proposed to change planning laws to allow a permanent green waste facility on the former vineyard off Stockdill Drive, having claimed it was the only viable location.
An ACT government spokesman defended relying on a 2022 study that examined relocating the Mitchell resource management centre to justify the proposed rezoning rather than commissioning a new dedicated study.
"The study assessed factors such as site and environmental constraints, proximity to sensitive land uses, access, infrastructure and heritage values. These same considerations are relevant to green waste facilities, and the study remains relevant for the rezoning process," the spokesman said.
The spokesman said environmental considerations, including potential impacts on surrounding land and waterways, were considered as part of the assessment process for a temporary green waste facility that was first proposed for the site before the government instead decided to seek approval for a permanent facility.
"This site is located 1 kilometre from existing residential areas, providing sufficient separation to accommodate the required Environmental Clearance Zone for a recycling facility and the block is considered to have relatively low ecological significance, due to its historical use as a vineyard," the spokesman said.
"The relative impacts of the proposed changes were assessed by the Territory Planning Authority, and the proposal is considered to be consistent with relevant government strategies and policies. Additionally, a future permanent facility would be subject to further assessment through the development approval process."
