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It’s on Batt ttle t of the Birdss will take on a whole new meaning this Saturday, as Sale Football-N Netball Club senior coach h, Jack Johnstone (left ft) t and Maff ffra f FNC senior captain Daniel Bedggood step into the ring. The pa air are set to be a majo or drawcard for a huge night of boxing in Sale, which will feature Stratf tford f professsional, Max Reeves.
FIRE SAFETY IGNORANCE PAGE 3
MORE - PAGE 28
MAFFRA MARDI GRAS PAGE 8
MARATHON EFFORT PAGE 27
SOLAR BATTLE Erika Allen
YESTERDAY (March 18), a prominent Boisdale-Maffra farming family began an appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT), challenging the Minister for Planning, Sonya Kilkenny’s intention to permit the construction of a 15-hectare solar farm on Maffra-Briagolong Road. Sophie Paterson, who oversees a 450-head Hereford stud on the Boisdale Homestead Estate with her husband, Andrew, is the applicant in the case. Boisdale Homestead’s property shares a boundary with the proposed solar farm on three sides. For clarification, the proposed solar farm is in no way connected to the large-scale 30-megawatt Maffra Solar Park project on Brewers Hill Rd that the Gippsland Times reported on in 2018 and 2019. Rather, the Maffra Solar Project is a 15-hectare, 4.95-megawatt solar farm proposal by developer BNRG Leeson. If approved by the Minister for
Planning, the development would feature 9400 solar panels standing at two to four meters high. Additionally, it would require one or two inverters, roughly the size of shipping containers, for power conversion, and a substation and battery system connected to the existing power line that runs through the property. If you’re privy to this information, you’re likely among a small collective of Maffra and district residents, who are beginning to learn of the proposed Maffra Solar Project. The Patersons, who have been the caretakers and owners of the historic Boisdale Homestead since 2005, are among this group. The Patersons told the Gippsland Times they found out about the project in May 2023, nine months after BNRG Leeson recorded they had engaged with direct neighbours by door-knocking and delivering letters on September 1, 2022. “BNRG Leeson representatives claim that they visited our property in September 2022 and provided a letter to
an unknown and unnamed man on our driveway,” Mrs Paterson said. A spokesperson from BNRG Leeson confirmed this. However, Mrs Paterson said, “No name has been provided and no record of the material has ever been provided. This means that we were not advised of the proposal for eight months of the notification for objection period”. A spokesperson from BNRG Leeson said: “Where residents weren’t home, material was left at the dwelling explaining the project, introducing the owner, advertising the drop-in session, and giving contact information”. “During the door knock, residents had questions and expressed interest in the project, but no objections were raised during the meetings, and none were expressed to BNRG Leeson afterward,” they added. In June 2023, the Patersons submitted a formal objection to the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) regarding the project.
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This objection was on the following grounds: The location’s proximity (about 450 metres) to registered 25,000-yearold Gunaikurnai grinding stones overlooking the site, is culturally inappropriate; The proposal contributes to loss of agricultural land that, while it has not been irrigated or cultivated in recent years, could be developed into productive farmland; The significance of the Boisdale Homestead Estate’s heritage to the Maffra-Boisdale district will be affected; Loss of biodiversity given that the Homestead’s surrounding property shelters native flora and fauna already being affected by development encroaching on habitat and loss of farmland, and; The proposal does not represent overall community benefit or an inclusive planning process. Continued - Page 4
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“Being entirely honest with oneself is a good exercise.” Sigmund Freud