Phil Calls on State Government to Act on Reycling Depot

On Thursday 4 February, Phil called on the State Government and the Minister for Planning to step in and immediately order the hazardous and noisy CMA scrap yard on Heatherdale Rd to ensure the safety and well being of the local residents or re-locate out of the area.

At a rally of the Heatherdale Community Action Group Phil said “Enough is enough! For many years the long suffering residents of Heatherdale Road have been subjected to explosions, hazardous dust, uncontrolled fires, distressing workplace accidents and unrelenting noise. It is disgraceful that the scrap yard is unable to meet the concerns of the local residents and the demands made to it by the local Council."

Phil called on the local State Labor Members to take action and stop this intrusion into the lives of residents who want nothing more than to live their lives in safety in the Mitcham neighbourhood.

According to the testimony of local residents, it is not uncommon for the noisy scrap yard to begin operations at between 3am and 4am in the morning with work continuing till late at night. Even over the Christmas period work was unrelenting with many tonnes of steel being moved in and out of the site between the 27th and 30th of December.

Local resident, Elwynne Kift, described the noise coming from CMA at 3:50 am on the morning of the 27th of January as:

“Horrific, the noise was one of extreme rumbling to the point that we thought that a water main had burst inside our house, and the whole thing was going to tumble down. I am extremely angry at being awoken like this, and my husband was awoken with a terrible fright. This was even though he had taken tablets to sleep.”

Phil went on to say “No one deserves to go through such pain on a regular basis. We are all in favour of recycling operations but the patience of the local community has been tested to breaking point. They deserve action and that means unless the safety, health and well being of local residents can be assured then this operation on Heatherdale Road must be relocated out of the area.”