Shire wants Dollar closure

South Gippsland Sentinel Times
Tuesday 21/11/2006, Page: 10

South Gippsland Council will ask Dollar Wind Farm proponent AGL about its long-term plans for the 48-turbine project, to obtain some certainty for local landholders. AGL suspended the project last month, stating it had other priorities elsewhere that it needed to address.

Cr Kieran Kennedy moved a motion last week that the council write to AGL CEO Paul Anthony and Merchant Power general manager Jeff Dimery "respectfully requesting written responses regarding their companies' long term intentions' in relation to the project.

Cr Kennedy said land owners in the Dollar area had been "in limbo" since the plans were first made public in 2003. ...The purpose of the motion is to create some certainty in the real estate industry in the Dollar area, which has been at a standstill for a number of years.

"Property owners haven't been able to decide what to do, given the uncertainty surrounding the project. "The price of the land has dropped, in some places marginally, and others more than that." He said real estate sales had been at a stagnant level for the past three years.

But those comments were refuted by Wilma Western, who was in the gallery at last week's council meeting.

"Fair enough that you ask AGL about its intentions, but where did you get the information from regarding prices?" She said Landmark in Leongatha had made 16 to 20 successful sales in the Dollar area during the past two years.