A truck wash proposal by a Victorian livestock selling complex has been met with objections from local residents
By Ruza Zivkusic-Aftasi | September 24, 2013
A truck wash proposal by a Victorian livestock selling complex has been met with objections from local residents.
The Ouyen Livestock Exchange in the state’s north-west has lodged a submission for a truck wash with the Mildura Council.
But residents have expressed concern over noise and odour that may stem from the proposed two-bay facility at Britt Street.
Mildura Council senior town planner James Turner says the application was lodged in May and a meeting with Ouyen Livestock Exchange, concerned residents and the council will be held within two weeks.
“The applicant has submitted an acoustic report with the application that recommends barriers along both sides of the truck which face the residential properties,” Turner says.
“Up to three trucks would be washed a day but on sale days, which occur once a fortnight, there could be up to 20 washes a day.”
The Ouyen Livestock Exchange’s consulting engineer Armin Huefner from Huefner and Associates in Adelaide says a change in legislation which requires all livestock trucks to be washed puts pressure on livestock operators.
“It puts an onus for the requirement for saleyards to provide the facility,” Huefner says.
“I am surprised by the objections because it is now possible to construct truck washes with minimal impact to the environment. It needs to be by nature that we design and build things that are environmentally neutral.”
The closest truck wash is about 130km away, he adds.
“It’s a requirement for truckies to have clean trucks to pick up product, in this case sheep, from saleyards and if they can’t get a clean truck they either don’t do the business or they go somewhere else.”
The application was referred to the Environment Protection Authority, which had no concerns over the matter, Turner says.
“However, they recommended we consider conditions relating to odours, dust and noise,” he says.
