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Council’s court threat to stop concrete plant

Bayswater local Jamie Petrovic is leading a charge from local residents against a concrete batching plant next to a neighbourhood park and homes. Picture: Bill Hatto

The City of Bayswater is threatening Supreme Court action amid health fears over a WA company's proposal for a concrete batching plant near homes.

As the costly deadlock over the proposed plant approaches its fifth year, WA Premix is set to refer the matter to the State Administrative Tribunal for a second time.

Veteran Bayswater councillors say they have never received as many letters and emails about a single issue, most of them related to concerns about silica dust drifting over playing fields and homes.

The original plans for the Collier Road plant were rejected by council in June 2011 but eventually approved by the SAT last year, subject to a range of conditions.

Despite the SAT approval, WA Premix increased its project budget from $1.5m to $6m to redesign the plant with the aim of increasing capacity and addressing health and environmental concerns.

The new plans, involving four 12.5m-high silos and described by a company spokesman as the most meticulous in WA, were rejected at Bayswater's last council meeting.

Councillors went against the recommendation of their own planning officers.

The battle has already cost the council more than $120,000, but if the SAT once again decides in favour of WA Premix, councillors will consider a Supreme Court appeal.

Father-of-two Jamie Petrovic spent years working at a concrete batching plant in Victoria before moving to Grey Street in Bayswater, about 300m from the proposed plant.

He said even with the claimed 30 per cent reduction in dust in the new plans, it was still a heavy industry plant which did not belong next to a residential area.

"You can put lip stick on a pig, but it’s still a pig," he said.

"It’s just a hazardous industry.

"The plant was in a heavy industrial area in Victoria - this is light industrial.

"I’m concerned about the real fine silica you can’t see that can cause scarring of lungs."

Since the proposal was first submitted, Bayswater council has moved to amend its town planning scheme to prohibit concrete batching plants.

Councillor Barry McKenna said if the Collier Road plant went ahead, he would feel he had failed the ratepayers in his ward.

"To me, it’s a yes or no, it’s not a compromise," he said.

"They appear to be trying to use a well-utilised public open space, Joan Rycroft Reserve, as a separation distance to houses."

WA Premix operates batching plants in Mandurah and Bibra Lake.

The Bayswater facility would service customers in the northern suburbs and the city.

Company spokesman Roger Stephens said he was "perplexed" that councillors would reject the new plans.

He said it had been a frustrating and expensive approvals process, plagued by misinformation.

The redesigned plant would feature a waste water recycling system and enclosed material transfers.

"This proposal is far and away the most exhaustively investigated and studied for a concrete plant in WA,” Mr Stephens said.