To those who have an interest in our city and its livestock saleyards, the following facts should be helpful.
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The site of the present yards is not owned by the city but by the State of Victoria so there is no windfall to the city from its sale of the site if the yards are shifted.What the city does own is the heavy pollution of the site with arsenic, which if the use was change the city would have to pay to shift the contamination. Its past history included 40 or 50 years of plunge dipping into arsenic dips to control sheep lice.
When council decided to transfer the management of the yards, they were the top saleyards in Victoria and they are still good yards. If new yards were to be built further out, the present management would be up for the cost of the yards, but heavy traffic roads would be needed to get stock in and out. These would cost the ratepayers millions. Plus water and sewerage lines.
Another point is what happens to the present site. Does it become a black hole within the city?
The businesses around the site would be under pressure. Ask them for their opinion.
The present management should be given an option to stay there and lift the area. As against new yards, that would save them and save the city millions of dollars.
What are my credentials to offer advice? Fifty years running business in the city, 18 years as a city councillor with an extra 12 years on the saleyards management.
The council should by now realise there is no spot within 50 kilometres where the local residents would welcome a saleyards complex. It hits the potential future development of such areas.
DON WOODWARD
Ballarat
