Sarah Oliver
A proposal to construct transmission towers alongside Melton aerodrome and a Toolern Vale school has been met with criticism.
The proposed pathway for AusNet’s Western Transmission Network Project (WTNP), which will comprise 190 kilometres of power lines from Bulgana near Stawell through Moorabool and Melton to Sydenham, passes near Melton Christian College’s new Toolern Vale campus as well as the aerodrome.
The school said it became concerned about the project when AusNet released its planned pathway for the controversial towers last year.
“Management of Melton Christian College made contact with AusNet as soon as we were aware that there was a possibility that transmission lines could be located anywhere near the new campus,” principal Dave Gleeson said.
“We provided AusNet with reasons and explanations outlining our deep concern as to the prospect of the AusNet power-supply pathway running close to the property of Melton Christian College’s new campus at 674-740 Coburns Road, Toolern Vale.”
In March, 2021, the company responded to the school’s concerns and said the campus was not within their site of interest. But AusNet made contact again contradicting its previous message, Mr Gleeson said.
“It came as a surprise and disappointment,” he said.
“It seemed they had changed their mind and were now proposing a pathway including parts of Toolern Vale, potentially near the campus site.”
Mr Gleeson said the school is not opposed to the power lines but it strongly believes “a school must be preserved as a zone free from the pathway of power transmission lines”.
At this stage, the school is confident the towers will not affect the new campus.
Sarah Harvey, who owns Café 500 at Melton aerodrome, said AusNet has released two potential pathways for the WTNP which pass either side of the airfield.
She said the towers are a safety concern as the aerodrome is used by trainee pilots. She said that while the towers are not planned to be built on aerodrome land, they are tall enough to impact the air space.
Ms Harvey said if the towers are built north of the aerodrome it would affect the safety of students learning to take off and land from that direction, where there are hills also affecting the flight path.
In a statement, AusNet said it knows this project is “an important issue and wanted to share these preliminary findings now with landholders and the community”.
AusNet said its land liaison officers will be contacting each landholder within the proposed route to discuss their specific land use and requirements, the proposed route, easements and compensation.
