There will be a new officer based in Ballarat next year with regulatory powers to look into noise, dust, odour and waste management.
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Recruitment has begun for the position, which will be funded by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and embedded within the City of Ballarat Council.
The EPA announced the new position on Wednesday in a press release.
The Courier understands that the role will come with many of the powers of a traditional EPA officer, although decisions to impose fines for non-compliance will be referred back to the EPA's headquarters.
However the new employee, officially known as an Officer for the Protection of the Local Environment, will have the power to issue abatement notices themselves.
One of the most high-profile tasks faced in the region for the EPA over the past year has been the new Miners Rest saleyards, which have twice had pollution abatement notice abatement notices issued against them.
However, EPA CEO Dr Cathy Wilkinson said there would also be a focus on identifying illegal stockpiling and disposal or waste.
This has been a particular area of focus following a series of extensive fires at sites particularly in North Melbourne. The City of Ballarat's recycling contractor SKM Recycling also had to close its doors due to concerns over stockpiling.
The officer will be recruited and trained this year, with a view to beginning early in 2020.
It is an extension of a pilot scheme that has already been running across 13 separate local authorities.
In a submission to the waste management and recycling inquiry, the Municipal Association of Victoria called the lack of EPA presence in rural and regional areas as "a significant weakness in the Victorian regulatory system".
It said the feedback from the councils involved in the pilot program had been "unanimously positive" with improved communication and collaboration between EPA and local government.
"It has also enabled councils to resolve long-standing waste and pollution issues within their municipalities," the submission read.
The feedback the MAV has received from the 13 councils involved in the program has been unanimously positive
The City of Ballarat council will share the officer with an existing pilot council, the Central Goldfields Shire.
The City of Ballarat's director of infrastructure and the environment Terry Demeo said that council was "excited to be offered the opportunity to participate" and placed "great value" in improving networks between council, EPA, industry and community.
Funding for the Ballarat position runs up until June 2020, although there is a strong possibility it could be extended, as many of the existing positions at existing pilot schemes already have been.
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