City of Greater Shepparton council slowly going green

Greater Shepparton City Council buildings are gradually becoming greener.

Saving power: Solar panels are being
installed on Greater Shepparton City
Council assets.

Solar panels are being installed on the council assets in an environmentally sustainable push, but also in a reaction to escalating power prices.

Chief executive Peter Harriott said the Eastbank Centre had been completed and the council’s Doyles’s Rd complex would soon be finished. But it is planning more. Mr Harriott aspired to solar being installed on one council asset or building each year.

He said potential savings from the installations depended on power prices.

‘‘If they go through the roof, we save a big percentage,’’ he said.

A tendered contract Mr Harriott awarded under delegated authority is listed as ‘‘Design and construction of solar PV systems at Doyles Rd Complex and Mooroopna Hub’’.

The awarded lump sum contract is valued at almost $225 000.

In March last year, the council also awarded a lump sum contract of about $225 000 for solar installation on its buildings. In November last year, the council predicted the amount it paid for power might increase by up to 50 or 60 per cent in coming years.

A parliamentary inquiry in Shepparton into the health of regional councils’ finances in 2017 heard from council representatives about the impact rising power prices had on finances.

Story by Thomas Moir from The Shepparton News - “Council slowly going green.”

Decision on solar farms now out of council's hands

Greater Shepparton City Council will no longer need to deal with four large-scale solar applications after handing them over to the Victorian planning minister at Tuesday’s meeting.

Greater Shepparton Mayor,
Kim O'Keeffe.

Solar farm planning permit applications for Tallygaroopna, Congupna, Lemnos and Tatura East were called in by Planning Minister Richard Wynne ahead of the meeting.

‘‘Our Planning Minister Richard Wynne has pulled it in and he’ll have a specialised expert panel that will listen,’’ City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Kim O’Keeffe said.

‘‘We’re very pleased that it’s been acknowledged as a priority.’’

Objector to the application in Tatura East, Geoff Slorach, said he and the fellow residents concerned with the application were pleased Mr Wynne would deal with the potential solar farms.

‘‘The council has taken the right approach by not making the decision and passing it onto the planning minister,’’ he said.

‘‘They’re not qualified and not informed enough and they’re out of their depth because of the magnitude of the projects, the ongoing effects to residents, the impact to growers and also the loss of water infrastructure.’’

Cr O’Keeffe acknowledged the fact it was difficult for the council to make decisions when it came to solar because there were no Victorian Government guidelines set in place.

‘‘We really didn’t have anything to go by and it’s very difficult to make decisions (when that’s the case),’’ she said.

‘‘There’s definitely a need for renewable energy and we know that and there’s obviously huge economic opportunity but it also has to come back to the right location.’’

Mr Slorach echoed Cr O’Keeffe’s sentiment and said although he was pro-solar, he had concerns about the proposed location.

‘‘I fully support solar farms and the reasons for them but they have to be designed in the right areas and hopefully the planning minister will take on board what they’ve done in NSW (and set some guidelines),’’ he said.

Cr O’Keeffe said an external panel would work with Mr Wynne and they had requested the panel come to Shepparton.

‘‘We have also put in some comments and some proposals that we would like considered which is obviously very important,’’ she said.

Timelines for the panel hearing are not yet known.

Story from today’s Shepparton News by Tara Whitsed - “Decision out of their hands.”

Laura Lakers wonders if Edinburgh is better for bikes?

I

’m chasing Kim Harding down a hill. We’re heading from the Royal Mile to Princes Street on the kind of descent one rarely encounters, living as I do in a very flat part of the country. “I love that hill,” he says as we regroup at the traffic lights.

Like Athens and Rome, Edinburgh is built on seven hills, but perhaps more akin to a “lumpy” city like Bristol, those hills don’t deter people from cycling in relatively high numbers by UK standards - 6% of journeys to work and school are by bike, or 2% of all journeys.

Where Edinburgh stands alone is that its city council is committing a percentage of its transport budget to cycling - starting from 5% in 2012 and rising 1% each year to 10%. It’s currently at 8%, or just over £2m, with funding from the Scottish government on top. I’m curious to see what they’re spending the money on, and whether it’s making a difference.

Harding, co-founder of Pedal on Parliament, and the Edinburgh Festival of Cycling, has kindly agreed to show me around during my week-long visit to the city.

Read Laura Laker’s story in the Guardian - “Is Edinburgh's cycling budget making the city better for bikes?”