STRAWBERRY growers in the Yarra Valley who lost much of their crop to
the Christmas Day storms that swept across the state want to be able to
erect hail nets more easily in order to prevent damage.
But a bureaucratic blame game has erupted over who is responsible for planning laws surrounding the nets.
As Sam Violi, owner of Golden Vale strawberry farm in Coldstream, tells
it: ''Most of the plants have been destroyed by the hail. We've had to
get rid of 250,000 plants - nearly a third of our crop.''
However, Yarra Ranges mayor Graham Warren said the council supported the
use of netting to protect crops, and had received fewer than 20
applications in the past four years for protective netting. ''None were
refused,'' he said.
Greens MP Greg Barber said Mr Walsh was mistaken to blame the council for their approach to hail netting.
''Actually, it's the state government's stupid rule,'' said Mr Barber.
He said the Agriculture Minister should get ''on to his mate the
Minister for Planning to get something done about it''
Read more:
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/stormdamaged-strawberry-farms-caught-in-netting-row-20120105-1pmyp.html#ixzz1icQugXdU
Mr Rieschieck said the nets, which have previously saved his crop, had
indeed been a bureaucratic nightmare to get the council to approve. ''We
had to get engineers drawing up plans for them before we put them up,''
he said. ''And then it took about 3½ years to sort out the permit.''
Comment: BLAME GAME.
Let's hope for some common sense on this matter between the Shire and the State Governments.
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