LCC Melbourne Area - Hill End Special Investigation (1982-1983)

Progress

Overview

In February I982, the LCC was directed to investigate an area of public land east and west of Hill End, and to make recommendations on the best use of the land, including the extent to which it might be used to fulfil the Government's commitments to increased softwood establishment and to replace land acquired from Australian Paper Manufacturers Ltd for coal development.

A descriptive report was published in June 1982.  The LCC received 39 written submissions from the general public and interested bodies on the future use of public land in the area.  The Council considered these submissions and published proposed recommendations for the Hill End area in October 1982.  The Council received a further 25 submissions commenting on the proposed recommendations.  and considered these when preparing the final recommendations. The Council published its final recommendations in January 1983.

The land examined in this special investigation is part of the LCC’s original Melbourne study area and was first investigated in 1973.  Final recommendations on the use of public land, including provision for softwood production, were published for this original investigation in January 1977.

Following the change of government in 1982, the policy with respect to using forested public land for softwood plantations was changed so that no further areas of public land carrying native forest were available for softwood production. The result was that the Council's recommendations for additional plantations on public land in the Hill End area were not accepted and the land remained under native forest.

The descriptive report, proposed recommendations and final recommendations for the special investigation are available from this page.

The final recommendations were superseded by the Melbourne Area District 2 Review (1987-1994).