Third project win for BGC

Early last year BGC boss Len Buckeridge reportedly said, in a moment of frustration, that he would sell up and move overseas because of frustration over environmental and planning hurdles standing in the way of three major projects.

Now, 16 months later, Mr Buckeridge would be feeling much happier because each of the contentious projects has overcome major hurdles and seems likely to proceed.

The latest development was this week’s federal government decision approving plans to build a brickworks at Perth airport.

This followed a major breakthrough earlier this month in plans by James Point Pty Ltd – in which BGC is a major shareholder – to develop a new port at Kwinana. It also followed environmental approval late last year for an expansion of BGC’s quarry at The Lakes east of Perth.

All three projects have been delayed for several years and Mr Buckeridge expressed frustration at the state government’s approach, which was openly hostile in the case of the brickworks.

Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan has said the state government was simply trying to ensure BGC projects went through the standard assessment process.

Federal Transport and Regional Services Minister Warren Truss said the brickworks had been approved with more than 60 conditions.

“The environmental standards placed on the planned development meet or exceed the standards prescribed by the Western Australian state government for brickworks,” Mr Truss said.

The brickworks will be required to cease operations if ever the required standards are exceeded.

BGC lawyer Michael Hotchkin, of Hotchkin Hanly Lawyers, said the brickworks would be the most highly regulated in the country and have the lowest emissions.

The approval of the brickworks is likely to add to Ms MacTiernan’s concern about commercial developments on airport land, which are subject to federal regulation. She wants the states to regain planning control over such land.

The planned brickworks will be capable of producing 110 million bricks annually.

The plant will break the duopoly held by Boral Ltd subsidiary Midland Brick and Brickworks Ltd’s Bristile operation, and follows a period when Perth was suffering from a shortage of bricks.

Approval for the brickworks followed an earlier report by the federal environment department which said the proposal should only proceed if a number of uncertainties were clarified and a rigorous regulatory regime was put in place.

Mr Truss said the federal government would seek to work with the state government to ensure a consistent approach to environmental management of the brickworks, particularly as there were five other brickworks situated in the Swan Valley.