Montrose Quarry

🙏 V4YR statement around the proposed expansion of the Montrose Quarry

A proposal that could affect Montrose, Kilsyth and surrounding communities for another 30 years deserves the highest level of scrutiny — and a genuine community voice in deciding what happens next.

Boral is proposing to expand the Montrose Quarry extraction area by approximately 12.5 hectares, providing access to millions of tonnes of additional rock and potentially extending quarrying at the site for another three decades.

Local residents and community organisations have raised serious concerns about what that could mean for air quality, noise and blasting, traffic, groundwater, native vegetation, wildlife habitat and the amenity of nearby homes and community facilities.

These concerns should not be dismissed — nor should conclusions be reached before the evidence has been properly examined.

The decision to require a full Environment Effects Statement is therefore an important step. It provides an opportunity for the environmental and community impacts of the proposal to be independently scrutinised and, critically, for local people to participate in that process.

Voices for Yarra Ranges believes major decisions affecting our communities must be transparent, evidence-based and genuinely informed by the people who live with their consequences.

We recognise that quarry materials play an important role in housing and infrastructure. But economic arguments cannot be considered in isolation from community wellbeing, environmental protection and the long-term character of the places in which we live.

We also acknowledge the residents and community organisations who have already invested significant time and effort in bringing these issues into public view.

Our role is to listen, help amplify those local voices and advocate for a process in which community concerns receive the consideration they deserve.

Thirty years is a generation. Decisions of this scale should be made with the community, not simply around it.