The Craig Mostyn Group has overcome its first major hurdle over plans to expand its Linley Valley pork abattoir in Wooroloo, after the Shire of Northam this week approved the group’s development application.
The Craig Mostyn Group has overcome its first major hurdle over plans to expand its Linley Valley pork abattoir in Wooroloo, after the Shire of Northam this week approved the group’s development application.
Craig Mostyn’s pork division, which trades under the name PPC Linley Valley Fresh, has been embroiled in a six-month battle with a group of local residents to have its new $22 million facility approved.
PPC Linley Valley Fresh general manager Ron Penn welcomed the shire’s decision, saying the new facility will create jobs and generate economic benefits for the region and the state.
Mr Penn said he had received support from a number of industry operators for the new export facility, which processes 98 per cent of the state’s pork supplies and more than half of Australia’s total fresh pork supply into Singapore.
The next step for the company is to gain approval from the Environmental Protection Authority, a process that could take up to 12 months depending on the level of assessment prescribed by the EPA.
“We are now working with environmental consultants to try and work on, and with the EPA, according to their level of assessment,” Mr Penn said.
Since Craig Mostyn lodged its development application with council in October last year, the proposal has faced resistance from a number of local residents, who opposed the development of mainly environmental grounds.
The lodgement of the application also coincided with a planning application from El Caballo’s Matthew Pavlinovich for the expansion of a residential housing estate, Killara Estate, on neighbouring land.
The residential estate would have reportedly included residences between 400 and 500 metres from the abattoir border.
Shire of Northam environmental health and building services manager, Phil Steven, said both proposals were required by council to make a number of adjustments to expand the buffer zone between the two properties.
The Killara Estate applicant was required to reduce the number of blocks in its proposal to enable the buffer zone to be increased, and both developments were required to plant trees along their boundaries.
The Killara Estate proposal has received preliminary support from council, which allows the proposal to go before the Western Australian Planning Commission for planning approval.
Despite the protests, Mr Steven said the council approved the abattoir application on economic grounds.
“[The new facility] will add employment to the area, bring economic benefits to the area and support local farmers and industry,” he told WA Business News.
Mr Steven said that, if approved by the EPA, the new facility would face ongoing stringent environmental monitoring by both the council and the EPA.
The national quarantine body, AQIS, will also conduct regular monitoring of the export facility’s operations.
