Conversion of an old Geelong power station raises growers' concerns

Grain Producers Australia and GrainGrowers have backed calls by the Victorian Farmers' Federation Grains council and GrainCorp to reject a planning application to convert an old power station at the Geelong port to office space.

GrainGrowers chief executive Shona Gawel, said in 2020 an independent advisory committee recommended not granting a permit for the office development at 50 Mackey Street, North Geelong.

"This decision three years ago rightly recognised the Port of Geelong's important role as a significant regional and state infrastructure asset - and that protecting it must hold primacy over all other policies, against which the application is assessed," she said.

"This development was specifically highlighted, in the 2020 Independent review of the Victorian Ports System, as an example that the current approach to buffer controls for incompatible uses in the land surrounding the ports requires further strengthening.

"These core facts must be recognised again now in the Victorian government rejecting this latest Planning Application, by the Hamilton Group."

GPA Southern director, Andrew Weideman, said the alignment of the three grain producer groups sent the Victorian government and Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny a firm message about blocking the application.

"GPA, GrainGrowers and the VFF have all united to urge the government, to oppose this inappropriate development at the Geelong Port, which threatens grain exports," he said.

"The organisations which collectively represent grain farmers across Australia are deeply concerned about the risks this development poses to crucial grain exports, and the impacts on key infrastructure that connects grain producers in Victoria and southern NSW to global export markets.'

GrainCorp spokeswoman Jess Simons said the company's initial opposition to a planned redevelopment, first raised in 2018, had not changed.

"We have serious concerns about the future of port access at Geelong for Victorian growers, given the impacts to local traffic and reverse amenity issues that this development could create," Ms Simons said.

"GrainCorp is a key stakeholder at the Port of Geelong, located opposite the proposed development site," Ms Simons said.

"It's important to note that this area sits within the port precinct and is industrially zoned, not to mention that it is part of the Principal Freight Network.

"We have firmly and clearly opposed the development since 2018, and we note the current proposal is substantially the same to the application that was eventually rejected in 2020."

The draft planning permit seeks approval for the use and development of the land for a seven-storey mixed-use building comprising office, industrial and warehouse uses and associated car parking.

VFF Grains Group vice president Ryan Milgate said he was also concerned the consultation process by the Department of Transport and Planning was not genuine, with the decision apparently already made.

"What's the point of consulting farmers about the impacts on our livelihoods, and the consequences we'll have to live with, if the decision's already been made?" Mr Milgate said.

"About 40 per cent of the state's grain is exported out of the Geelong Port and during harvest and exporting season there's about 250 trucks per day going in and out of that facility.

"We have serious concerns about safety issues if more people are going to be located at the port, but also the non-strategic approach, which limits future expansion and economic growth.

"You can build an office space almost anywhere there's a bit of dirt, but you can't float a boat up the main street of Geelong to load grain for export markets.

"It has 350-odd car parking spaces, there is pedestrian traffic, along with the fact you will never be able to develop further export capacity there."

GrainCorp figures show more than two million tonnes of grain have been exported through the port, already this year.

More than seven million tonnes of grain have gone through the port since 2020-21.

Road tonnage to the GrainCorp site is currently sitting at 200 trucks a day; that figure rises to 250 a day in December and January.

Mr Milgate said a summary report on the proposal, prepared for the state government, spoke about the proposed use being a buffer to a nearby residential area.

"They are sort of hiding behind the fact this is going to be a buffer zone as well - they are playing a good game, saying the right things."

He said he took grain to the Geelong port by truck.

"Mackey Street is bad enough now, without injecting another whole office precinct into there - it's going to be dangerous," he said.

The relocation of the Spirit of Tasmania from Station Pier, Melbourne had also exacerbated issues in the area, particularly for the Lascelles Wharf, he said.

'It's the wrong development, at the wrong place, at the wrong time," Mr Milgate said.

"It's a real worry."

In 1954 Power Station B was opened on the site and was Victoria's largest power station outside the LaTrobe Valley.

Due to high operating costs, it closed in 1970 - since then, the power station building has been unused and the site vacant.

An explanatory report, prepared for the state government, said the planning scheme amendment would provide certainty to the north of GrainCorp's current operations.

"The maximum floor area is a limiting mechanism to the scale of commercial activities undertaken on the site," the report said.

"This allows for any potential impacts to the intersection of Melbourne Road and Mackey Street and the function of GrainCorp port facilities to the north of the site to be assessed and mitigated where necessary.

"It also limits potential impact on other activity centres."

Public consultation closed at 5pm on July 24.