“All stops must be taken” to stop permanent Mangrove Mountain landfill – Tesch

TOPICS:
Cell W in February 2016, holding an estimated 20 million litres of run-off. CCN archive 2016

April 9, 2022

Member for Gosford, Liesl Tesch, has said ‘all stops must be taken’ to stop the Mangrove Mountain from becoming a permanent regional waste facility following last week’s decision from the Land and Environment Court (LEC) to allow waste dumping at the facility.

The LEC on March 25 found the court orders entered by Gosford City Council in 2014 stand.

LEC Justice Rachel Pepper ordered that Verde Terra (VT) may “lawfully carry out the works ordered by the Court on 29 August 2014 … without the need to obtain further development consent” and said her judgement was the culmination of a “long running and increasing complex dispute”.

The 2014 orders between the former Gosford City Council and VT included agreement to accept 1.14 million cubic metres of waste at the Mangrove Mountain Landfill Golf Course site whereas the original 1998 consent allowed for 240,000 cubic metres of fill.

Tesch said she was disappointed by the Land and Environment Court’s decision and said it places significant pressure on Council Administrator Rik Hart and Central Coast Council staff to deliver the best possible outcome for the Central Coast.

“The decision by the Land and Environment Court is incredibly disappointing and allows court orders made in 2014 to stand – allowing a maximum of 1.14M cubic metres of landfill to de deposited at the site – a continuation of the massive environmental and public health disaster,” Tesch said.

“Many in our community believe that the Coast shouldn’t be the tip for the rest of the state, and yet this decision leaves the door open for more waste to be deposited at Mangrove Mountain.

“The only positive is that new guidelines for solid waste landfills were introduced in 2016, which are more demanding and require cells to be lined and we know that 85 per cent of the Mangrove Mountain dump is unlined.”

The outcome indicates that, under the 2014 court orders, Verde Terra has 10 years to complete its planned construction of an 18-hole golf course using landfill at the Mangrove Mountain Golf Club site.

Tesch said this allows an additional 340,000 tonnes of waste to be delivered at the top of the Central Coast water catchment.

According to Justice Pepper, the court may grant a new development consent to accommodate new 2016 Landfill Guidelines.

“This could give Council reason to require a new DA and for the EPA to require cell lining before it issues an Environmental Protection Licence or EPL,” Tesch said.

“So before Council enters into talks with Verde Terra about amending the 2014 court orders, it needs to consider the best options it has for protecting our water catchment.

Tesch said the original permission for the landfill was provided by the Gosford City Council General Manager in 2014 without consultation with the then elected Councillors.

“The Land and Environment Court was scathing of Central Coast Council and the former Gosford City Council for taking so long to respond to the 2014 court orders which allowed a 10 year expansion and larger works to begin.

The LEC made the determination that Verde Terra would need to apply for an additional development consent if it wishes to do anything on the site not covered by the 2014 court orders and 1998 consent and it still has responsibility to remediate the site to an 18-hole golf course.

“The people of the Central Coast rely on the government agencies of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Central Coast Council to ensure Verde Terra complies with all necessary environmental protection responsibilities moving forward.

“I wanted to thank Marilyn Steiner, Margaret Pontifex, Danny Wilmott, ABC journalist Mary-Louise Vince, local journalist Jackie Pearson and the late Stephen Goodwin for their hard work over decades to keep the interest in this story active and to hold Council and Verde Terra to account.”

More information about the Mangrove Mountain Landfill can be found by searching ‘Mangrove Mountain’ on CCN’s website.

Maisy Rae

Past stories on this topic