South West Food Processing Precinct

Page last updated: Wednesday, 25 October 2017 - 3:48pm

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South Burekup

The site is comprised of 14 lots owned by five landowners and is zoned for ‘General Farming’ in the Shire of Dardanup planning scheme.

It is located to the west of and overlooked by parts of a Landscape Protection Area associated with the Ferguson Valley, which accommodates various tourist attractions and accommodation.

There is possibly more risk in terms of social impact associated with visual impact for this site than any others, notwithstanding that there are very few sensitive land uses within close proximity of the site.

Food processing activities are likely to be classed as ‘noxious industry’ and would not be permitted under the current local zoning.

The site is primarily used for mineral sands mining by Doral Mineral Sands Pty Ltd.

Current mining leases are valid until 2035, although Doral has verbally advised that current mining activity is anticipated to be completed in late 2015. Unless the leases are surrendered, however, there can be no guarantee that the site would be available for other purposes from 2015.

The current mining activity already involves heavy vehicle movements, so the introduction of a food processing precinct to the site would not have a significant impact in these terms. However the nearest RAV network road, O’Connor Road, is 500 metres distant.

The nearest existing potable water supply at Burekup has no spare capacity and an alternative supplier would need to be found.

It is possible that Aqwest will extend its existing licence to include this area however its willingness to pre-fund a supply to the site would be subject to a business case which would take into account the likely uptake of supply by customers.

No regional groundwater mapping is available covering this area but site topography and previous investigations on this site suggest that ground water is generally deeper than two metres. However there is a multiple use wetland in the western part of the site, indicating a shallow winter groundwater level. There are several ephemeral waterways flowing across the site.

If selected for a food processing precinct, the core area would probably be located in the northern part of the site, to minimise the number of known sensitive land uses that would be affected by likely buffer zones.

The site ranked second out of the four short listed sites when the criteria had been scored using the multi-criteria analysis.

Qualitatively it has been assessed as high risk in terms of being likely to accommodate a staged approach based on a rational and financially viable servicing model, and social licence.

When a site with some land in common with the current site was considered in 2011 there was considerable community opposition expressed, and the Shire of Dardanup did not support a food processing facility in this area.