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GPN general meeting Thursday 21 July, 6:00pm

It’s been just over a year since GPN gained a paid Facilitator role. It’s a good time for us to have a general meeting to review the last year and talk about the future. And with Spring just around the corner, we’ll need to plan some grassland activities! There are quite a few new people on our mailing list and following us on Facebook – we’d love to meet you. And hey – we’d love to see our long-time GPN-ers too!

Draft agenda: Facilitator will present overview of year and some future directions, then open to all for discussion. Email adrian@vnpa.org.au if you want something specific on the agenda.

Zoom details: Time: Jul 14, 2022 18:00 Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89451139768?pwd=V3F4TkNuWEF0d3R0c1NKNEFkS0pydz09
Meeting ID: 894 5113 9768, Passcode: 446841

Further protections for Ajax Road Grassland 


Following on from our win for Ajax Road Grassland, we’re asking Hobsons Bay to ensure the ongoing protection of Hobsons Bay’s remarkable biodiversity assets, including Ajax Road Grassland. We have spoken to staff and written to Councillors urging them to now:
  • Fast-track the implementation of an Environmental Significance Overlay on the Ajax Road native grassland site. Biodiversity and strategic planning staff are to be commended for their current working through of an ESO process for the whole of Hobsons Bay, but the timeline for that stretches well into 2023. Ajax Road needs further protections as soon as possible, to be in place before the developer comes back with a new planning application. Survey data already exists to allow an Ajax Road ESO to be promptly actioned.
  • Seriously consider the creation and filling of an Environmental Planner position to work across the biodiversity and strategic planning areas of Council. Many local Councils have realised the need for such a position and are benefitting from such a coordinated approach.
  • Advance work on a new Industrial Land management Strategy, bearing in mind the increased community demand for best-practice integration of biodiversity and industry.
  • Seek finer-grain data on predicted climate change impacts.

Development Victoria working hard to trash good Cairnlea grassland

 
We’ve been fighting Development Victoria’s proposal to clear grassland in Cairnlea, and we recently presented our position at an 11-day Victorian Land Standing Advisory Committee (VLSAC) planning tribunal hearing. Lincoln Kern, from Practical Ecology, was our expert witness. Numerous other community groups, such as Friends of Iramoo and Friends of Kororoit Creek, as well as Cairnlea locals, also voiced their opposition.

We were shocked by the complete disregard displayed by Development Victoria towards the presence of remnant grassland on their site. They came up with all the usual and discredited arguments. The remnant grassland is too small to be important. Offsets are better. There is nowhere else for the road to go. It’s weedy. You can’t burn it. It’s not part of any urban connectivity.

It’s like they haven’t heard of the FFG Act and the duty of care that they have towards the environment as a government authority. Development Victoria should be renamed Vandalise Victoria. They even asked to have submissions by GPN, Friends of Iramoo and local community advocate Graeme Blore thrown out!

The upcoming decision by the planning panel will have consequences for more than just the Section G Grasslands. The Jonesfield Corner and Reid Street Grasslands are immediately adjacent to the Section G Grasslands, and a developer is just waiting to wreck them. And they are all part of a network of environmental assets across the greater Cairnlea area.

We wait and see the VLSAC outcome.

You can read our submission here.

Help us work with Parks Victoria on Kororoit Regional Park

Following on from our submissions regarding the development of the future Kororoit Regional Park, Parks Victoria have invited the Grassy Plains Network to join them in creating a community engagement event to begin building some love for what will be a large, grassland-rich expanse of nature. Anyone with ideas or wanting to lend a hand, please email adrian@vnpa.org.au or phone me on 0413 757 173.

You can read our full submission here.

grassyplains.net.au     m) 0413 757 173    Level 3, 60 Leicester Street, Carlton Vic 3053

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