Smaller towns in a Victorian regional hub are not protected by rules governing the minimum distance between urban areas and wind farms, a court has heard.
Residents in Gippsland's Latrobe Valley have challenged a permit to build a wind farm close to their homes in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Lawyers representing the Strezlecki Community Alliance argued towns Moe, Morwell and Traralgon were considered one regional city, and any wind farm development was legally required to be at least 5km from homes.
Lawyers for former Victorian planning minister Richard Wynne, who approved the 33-turbine project in 2021, argued a 5km buffer zone only applied to regional cities Moe, Morwell and Traralgon, and not nearby Newborough, Boolarra, Yinnar, Thorpedale, Delburn and Mirboo North.
"We say it's totally unmeritorious argument to suggest that Moe, Morwell and Traralgon are ... one unified network city," counsel Juliet Forsyth told the court.
Ms Forsyth conceded the law raised issues of fairness.
"Why then, do the people of Moe get the protection and the people of the small town of Thorpedale don't?" she asked.
"There was a decision made to specify certain areas in the planning scheme that gets protection and others that don't."
Delburn Wind Farm argued some residential zones were not included in the urban zones which required a minimum distance from wind farm infrastructure.
"That's land ... although zoned for the right purposes, which warrant protection, it's not inside the urban area, although it's in Morwell," Delburn's lawyer Susan Brennan told the court.
"So it's an example of land that although it's zoned in the nominated zone and it's inside Morwell, doesn't get the benefit of the protection because it's not in the urban area as defined by the plan."
Justice Melinda Richards noted the proximity to residential areas to the site of the Hazelwood coal-burning power station, which closed in 2017.
"I was reflecting overnight that the mine is a lot closer than 5km to to the urban area," Justice Richards remarked.
The case continues, with lawyers for the Strezlecki Community Alliance due to respond to the arguments on Friday afternoon.
