Plea for habitat

By Paul Pickering
FERNTREE Gully environmental advocates have stepped up their campaign to save the Blind Creek Billabong, staging a passionate protest at the adjoining Norvel Road quarry site last Tuesday.
The demonstration – led by members of the Friends of Blind Creek Billabong group – was a last-gasp plea to land-owner Robertson Industries to discontinue the clearing of native vegetation and reconsider an imminent application for the site’s rezoning for residential development.
Group spokeswoman Fay Rimmer said that work on the site is endangering the fragile ecosystem of the Blind Creek corridor, which contains plants of state and regional significance.
“Habitat is disappearing far too quickly in Knox,” she said.
“It’s so important, for everyone’s wellbeing, that bushland is preserved.”
Mrs Rimmer’s letters of appeal to the Department of Sustainability of Environment and the Department of Primary Industries have been unsuccessful in enlisting state government support.
Robertson Industries uses clay extracted from the site for their Nunawading brick manufacturing business.
Although bushland in the area is subject to a Vegetation Protection Overlay in Knox Planning Scheme, Robertson Industries is entitled to clear vegetation if deemed necessary for their operations.
Knox Environment Society vice-president Irene Kelly has written an open letter to Robertson Industries, calling on owner Daniel Robertson to reconsider.
In the letter, Mrs Kelly says that “studies have shown that retention of this parcel of indigenous bushland will directly impact on the wildlife habitat corridor to the Dandenongs”.
She notes that given the deterioration of local habitat, “every remaining bit will become more and more critical to keeping our city green.”
Robertson Industries has signalled its intentions to use the proposed housing development to finance its relocation to a new site in Clyde.
Although Knox City Council notes that it has not yet received any permit applications for the rezoning of the site, preliminary considerations in July last year left the proposal open for discussion.
Last week, Knox’s director of city development, Steve Dunn, said: “It is expected that a request to rezone the land will be lodged in the near future.
“Council will assess the sustainability of the site for residential purposes once the rezoning requests have been received,” Mr Dunn said.
Robertson Industries was unable to respond to the Mail’s inquiries in time for publication.