Central Coast Council has joined the NSW Environment Protection Authority (EPA) as second respondent in the Land and Environment Court (LEC) in two pending appeal proceedings applied for by Verde Terra Pty Ltd, the operator of the Mangrove Mountain landfill site.
Verde Terra has appealed against the NSW Environment Protection Authority’s refusal of an application to modify an environment protection licence issued by the EPA under the Protection of the Environment Operations Act. Those proceedings are next before the Court on Thursday, September 13. On September 5, Central Coast Council filed notices of motion in those proceedings seeking to be joined as the second respondent. Those motions are first before the Court on September 13. Council will not make further comment about those proceedings or its pending motions until those motions have been considered and determined by the Court.
Dr Stephen Goodwin of the Mountain Districts Association (MDA) said “We are delighted. “We knew from the EPA’s public statements that they did not think the proposed activities had planning approval, so it is not a surprise that Council are seeking to join the action as the second respondent,” Goodwin said. “MDA is considering seeking to join as a respondent also, but we will wait and see until the grounds for Council’s participation are known, and then we will know where we might go or not after that,” he said. “At long last the three major parties are in court, and they should have been before now. “It is almost exactly four years ago since the LEC issued its orders in the previous case, and since then, Verde Terra has not been allowed to bring in any more new waste, and the matter has been in dispute between the community and the two regulatory bodies. “It would seem that finally these two bodies have acknowledged the claims that have been made by the community.”
Source: Media statement, Sep 11 Central Coast Council media Interview, Sep12 Stephen Goodwin, Mountain Districts Association Jackie Pearson, journalist