Moorabool shire councillor John Keogh says the continuing existence of illegally-dumped piles of unidentified material on a property near Mount Egerton reminds him of 'a wart on a witch's nose'.
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"It's there, it's ugly, it keeps growing... everyone can see it, but no-one wants to talk about it," Cr Keogh told The Courier.
The piles of what appear to be dumped crushed glass, or 'a coarse sand-like' material according to Moorabool Shire Council, on Gains Road, were first reported to council officers by Cr Keogh in June 2019.
"It's been there an long time, and it's not supposed to be there," Cr Keogh said.
He says he's been told of continual visits of unbranded trucks to the site over time, offloading the unidentified material.
"It's definitely being dumped," he said.
"I can tell you they've definitely got no permit for it. It looks like crushed glass, but I have no idea where it's come from. There's an excavator on the site, but it's unregistered and it has no names on it either."
It's there, it's ugly, it keeps growing... everyone can see it, but no-one wants to talk about it
- Moorabool Shire Cr John Keogh
Manager of statutory planning and building services with Moorabool Shire Council Rob Fillisch acknowledges the huge piles are not meant to be dumped where they are.
However Mr Fillisch was at pains to point out the council had taken samples from the piles for toxicity testing, and there was no immediate threat to public health.
"This is ongoing investigation," Mr Fillishch said.
"We are working with the owner to have the material removed; however to this point we have not been successful in achieving that outcome. We are now progressing with the matter legally."
Mr Fillisch says the owner of the property is not the person dumping the material, and council are restricted to dealing with the landowner and not the third party.
He concurs with Cr Keogh that the material has a fine, crushed glass texture.
"It is consolidated, like rock salt," he said.
"We had some talks earlier that were reasonably productive, resulting in some material being removed and some buried. However it is clear now that while further material does not seem to be arriving, it is no longer being removed."