The Central Victoria Livestock Exchange may stink for a while longer, as the new cleaning system begins working.
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More than 50 Miners Rest residents aired their grievances directly at CVLX management at a fiery meeting on Tuesday night, the first public meeting since 2013.
The facility was opened in October, and some systems, like the cleaning process for sheep pens, are still being commissioned.
General manager Garry Edwards said the system was designed for the long term.
“There are elements around this that we want to improve in regard to the commissioning of the site,” he said.
“There’s a highly sophisticated water treatment system we’ve put into the site that’s much greater than what was required, however that takes some weeks and months to commission.”
Some residents, like Werner Oellering, who is part of the Committee for Miners Rest, said they were not aware of any commissioning phase.
“(That) is the crux of what we’re having issues with now, it was never mentioned,” he said after the meeting.
Concerns about truck traffic, lighting at night, and contamination were also expressed.
Potholes on the Sunraysia Highway were already being addressed by VicRoads, and truck signage had been installed.
Mr Edwards said the company would do better at communicating with the public, adding he would arrange quarterly public meetings.
“What I learnt tonight is there’s little awareness within the community at the moment about how we’re dealing with the concerns that are raised, so that is clearly something we have to solve,” he said.
The EPA has inspectors on site, and regional manager Carolyn Francis said investigations would take some time.
“Our priority is identifying the source of the odour and seeing that resolved, then we’ll work through the rest of the process,” she said.
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