By Matthew Sims
Hobsons Bay has outlined it would continue to advocate to the state government to implement a transparent Buffer Area Overlay tool outlining safety measures and risk mitigation efforts around Major Hazard Facilities [MHFs] following WorkSafe’s recent changes to safety areas.
At its meeting on Tuesday, December 13, Hobsons Bay council passed a motion to note the impact the changes would have on the Spotswood Activity Centre Structure Plan, which would provide direction for future land use, growth and change in Spotswood, note that discussions are ongoing and continue the application notification process in line with the adopted 2014 Interim Management of Land Use Planning Around Major Hazard Facilities Guidelines.
In their June 2022 submission to the Draft Spotswood Activity Centre Structure Plan, WorkSafe advised they had changed their guidance around land use planning near Major Hazard Facilities (MHFs).
Under the changes, ‘safety areas’ around 13 Major Hazard Facilities [MHFs] within the inner west, including the Mobil terminal in Yarraville, would be changed, increasing the areas to include more than 3000 residential, commercial and industrial properties in Footscray and Yarraville and 2000 properties in Hobsons Bay.
Councillor Jonathon Marsden said the new safety areas would have a “profound impact” on anyone interested in land use within Hobsons Bay.
“This really came out of nowhere,” he said.
“We can’t ignore the risk, but we need to quantify it and we need to understand it.”
Cr Marsden said the new safety areas would create a significant amount of uncertainty and would put the council in a “really difficult position”.
“These new inner and outer safety areas really restrict the number of people who can be on a given site within those safety areas, because of the risk of mass casualties,” he said.
“We want to use those historic buildings…to build something new, exciting and prosperous so that we can employ locals and attract talent to the area.”
Cr Daria Kellander said the changes were “quite disappointing”.
“It’ll stifle development opportunities and infrastructure and service delivery in the affected areas and potentially impact home property valuations as well,” she said.
“It’ll undermine our efforts to attract new industries and bring jobs into Hobsons Bay.”
According to WorkSafe, while WorkSafe is responsible for the registration and licencing of MHFs, there is no statutory requirement for responsible authorities, such as councils, to seek advice from WorkSafe and in most circumstances, responsible authorities are not required to accept WorkSafe’s advice on on land use applications close to a MHF.
Details: www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/land-use-planning-near-major-hazard-facility
