Big celebrations here! The two objectors to our planning application have decided, it seems, not to contest at VCAT the council decision to grant a planning permit. The deadline for an application has passed and no application has been lodged.
We’ll post the hilarious exchange with VCAT staff when we tried to find out their business days in another post. Short version we were told we would need to seek legal advice to determine their next business day after Christmas – and yes, you read that right!
It’s a salient lesson for anyone planning small scale agriculture. Don’t assume because you’re in the middle of nowhere and your closest neighbours can’t even see your property that you won’t be the target of pretty hostile (and factually incorrect) objections. Objections to council and applications to VCAT need not be factually based, and you can probably expect an attitude from traditional broad scale farmers along the lines of we just don’t want you here.
But we’re persistent and fully committed – so Langi Billin is a go!