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Rescue plea Tania Milton only opened Hoppy’s Place, her in-home animal rescue, in March but an accident has threatened to put pause to her operations. “Melton has a huge stray population,” she said. “Hoppy’s Place is about breaking the cycle, getting cats desexed and microchipped and putting them up for adoption.” Hoppy’s Place get’s its namesake from Ms Milton’s cat, who recently caused an accident that put Ms Milton in hospital. Hoppy, who has three legs, is deaf, and has brain damage, has a habit for running around people’s feet. Ms Milton “face planted” after Hoppy got under her feet in the hallway, and when she gathered herself, realised her arm was “pointing in the other direction”. Ms Milton broke her arm in two places and dislocated her shoulder, requiring surgery. Her recovery is set to take from six to 12 weeks, and she is seeking donations of cat food and litter to help the rescue operate while she is out of work. “It has had a huge impact,” she said. “I can’t contribute funds which the shelter requires, my husband taken time off work … if it wasn’t for the donations [her friend] Carolyn has raised we’d be in a lot of bother by now.” Tania Milton and Carolyn Coleman with Moet the cat. (Damjan Janevski) 332486_04
Stonehill set to expand The Stonehill residential development has been given permission to expand by Moorabool council, despite pushback from local environmental groups. An addendum to the West Maddingley Development Plan was approved by council at a meeting on May 3, which sought to change the use of land at 289 Werribee Vale Road from public open space to residential. The change in turn allowed for a separate application for a six-lot subdivision for the privately-owned site to also be approved. Bacchus Marsh Platypus Alliance president Dr Jodie Valpied spoke in objection to the proposal on the grounds that the development
plan needs to be put on public exhibition again if public open space is being removed. “This is an addendum to the development plan but it actually changes what is in the development plan, which is public space that is clearly marked,” she said. Moorabool Environment Group member David Marnie agreed with Dr Valpied. “In our town we consider public space, particularly close to the river, as incredibly important … we’re very concerned that without proper consultation this makes a precedent for other changes that will have a detrimental impact on our amenity,” he said. Dr Valpied was also concerned about
potential environmental risks from the development, stating a company involved is under investigation by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA). EPA Southwest regional manager Carolyn Francis confirmed the EPA issued a company working at the Stonehill estate with an Environmental Action Notice on April 28, which “requires the company to install sediment controls and remove any litter or waste from the retention basin area at Stonehill Estate, to prevent sediment or litter reaching nearby stormwater drains or the Werribee River.” Cr Moira Berry raised an alternate motion to defer the application until the result of
council’s own investigation into sediment entering the Werribee River from Stonehill estate comes to fruition. The motion failed, and the addendum and subdivision motions were both passed. ProUrban associate director Aidan Robinson spoke on behalf of the applicant. “The land there is privately owned, it’s not a public space at the moment. I hope that’s quite clear,” he said. “There’s a concept plan at the lower end of that document that in our mind clearly stipulates that there is an ability to develop this portion of the land subject to further consideration which is what we’ve done with council officers recently.”
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