The following comes from the ABC.
Victorian Planning Minister Matthew Guy has called-in an application for a three-turbine wind farm at Chepstowe, south-west of Ballarat.
The proponent, Future Energy, had taken the application to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) because it said the Pyrenees Shire had taken too long to make a decision.
A spokeswoman for the Minister says he wants to give certainty to the community.
Pyrenees Mayor Michael O’Connor says he hopes the process will give a sense of how the Government’s wind farm policy will operate.
“It will certainly give us the opportunity to work with the Minister’s appointed experts to get a good feel for what Government policy is likely to be in relation to wind farms. As a shire and a council we don’t really feel it’s been clarified for us now and this might be a very good starting point,” he said.
yes2renewables.org 
Whilst I agree that sometimes long processes can be tideous a 3 turbine project should be decided by the local council and not the minister. This is the best way to minimise community support.
can someone explain what it means to “call-in” a bid? It’s not clear from the text exactly what this means…
There is no doubt that this project should be decided by local government.
The problem lies with the developer mr shapiro of future energy, who thought he would be extra wise and bypass council and go straight to VCAT, as he knew there was a large amount of opposition locally and that it would be highly unlikely for council to pass it.
Mr Shapiro has now been royally shafted as its exteamly unlikely the current govt will pass this proposal due to its location and the prevelance of endangered speices on the site.
Penelope, its a bit unclear, once we have some extra info on what ‘calling it in’ means in the new political environment, we will post it here.
regards
cam
Call-In is actually very clear. It means the Minister decides on the Development Application as he considers it to be of significant interest to the State of Victoria (for three turbines – hear hear). Here in NSW this is done automatically for wind farms in excess of $30 million. Well, if a council and the local area fiercly oppose a wind farm then maybe it’s in the wrong spot?
Why is there opposition to this one? It’s only 3 turbines and the nearest non-landowner residence is more than 2km away.