Residents near Bakery Hill disturbed by late night deliveries to mail services and retailers may have little recourse to any form of relief or complaint, says the City of Ballarat and Australia Post.
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One resident, who has asked not to be identified, sent video to The Courier taken at 11pm on a weekday, showing several trucks using the rear of the Humffray Street Australia Post Office to move deliveries.
The resident says in recent times the number of trucks has increased and hours of operation have extended into the night, along with early deliveries to supermarkets.
"I was told by council that, although they (Australia Post) were in commercial zone 1, because AusPost is next to a mixed use (predominantly residential) zone they needed to abide by the EPA laws of that zone, given noise isn't just confined to the boundary," the resident said.
"I was told the Bakery Hill AusPost wasn't the main depot (it is in Wendouree), and as such their hours should only be within the noise limits of a standard AusPost shop.
"I understand they are commercial, but they still can't - according to council - be impacting with noise on nearby residents. They told me that applied to Coles delivery trucks as well, that they shouldn't be doing deliveries before 6am or after 7pm."
An Australia Post spokesperson said the depot and office at Humffray Street had been operating since 1976 without restrictions, and was not subject to any curfew.
"Delivery Centres are required to operate on a 24-hour basis to ensure the prompt delivery of mail services to local communities," the spokesperson said.
"The site is located within a Commercial 1 Zoning pursuant to the Ballarat Planning Scheme. There are no town planning 'curfews' that operate on commercial properties within this zone. The facility enjoys 'existing use rights' under planning regulations.
"Naturally we always endeavour to operate with as little noise as possible to respect those in local areas."
In a statement to The Courier, the City of Ballarat acknowledged the receipt of a complaint to its Environmental Health Team and said its Compliance Team had received no complaint over the matter.
"Council has no power to enforce delivery times under the planning law," the statement said.
The council suggested residents needed to direct complaints about noise to the EPA. Any concerns regarding commercial or business noise issues could be referred to the EPA Pollution Report Hotline.
"Council shares the resources of an EPA officer with other State Government agencies... The position on the use of this EPA officer outside normal trading hours needs to be discussed with the State Government," the City of Ballarat's statement said.
"I don't expect no noise living where I do," the resident said, "but now it's between 11pm 'til 1am each night for the last few weeks, when they haven't done it in years prior. Why have they now changed their route and timings? Prior to 2019, they never completed deliveries to the post shop at night."
