"Death by a thousand cuts": Yarra Ranges green groups rally against massive soil dump

“Devastating destruction of the local environment”: A green fill site in Lysterfield has gone to VCAT after council said no.

Matthew Sims
May 21, 2025

Lysterfield locals and other environmental groups are hoping to quash a proposal for a clean fill site.

What is the proposal?

The proposal, focused on 465 Lysterfield Road, would see a total of 400,000 cubic metres of soil spread across a 15ha site over a three-year period, with the soil delivered by more than 50 truckloads per day.

465 Lysterfield Road is currently home to the Don Bosco Retreat Centre. The land is owned by Salesian Society Inc, an offshoot of the Salesians of Don Bosco, an international organisation of Catholic priests and brothers that says it is dedicated to the service of the young, especially the disadvantaged and marginalised.

In October 2023, Yarra Ranges Council refused the permit on the grounds the proposal did not “adequately protect” Monbulk Creek and was not in line with the purpose of the Green Wedge zoning of the site, which aims to protect non-urban areas of metropolitan Melbourne lying outside the urban growth boundary.

"Once it's gone, it's gone": Local groups say platypus population at risk due to Lysterfield landfill proposal

A proposed clean fill site in Lysterfield would see 400,000 cubic metres of soil dumped on land near a platypus population already under threat. Local community organisations have banded together to strengthen their case against the proposal.

Since then, the proponent - Earth Solutions Group (ESG) Lysterfield Pty Ltd - has taken the case to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

A number of local groups have made submissions in support of the council’s original decision, including the Knox Environment Society, Friends of the Glenfern Green Wedge, Friends of Glenfern Valley Bushland Group, the Green Wedge National Trust, Save the Dandenongs League and the Green Wedge Coalition.

Clean fill is commonly disposed of in landfills, often in quarries or in transfer stations.

What’s happening at VCAT?

During a hearing on Friday May 9, VCAT Presiding Member, Judith Perlstein, ruled that a Cultural Heritage Management Plan (CHMP) would not be required for the site.

On Tuesday VCAT will rule on whether arguments surrounding Aboriginal heritage protection could be included in the main case.

There are further hearings slated for July and August.

A Melbourne Water monitoring program discovered a 24-year-old male platypus in 2023 in Monbulk Creek - the oldest platypus ever found in the wild. Image Credit: Ecology Australia

Why is the community fighting against the proposal?

Friends of the Glenfern Green Wedge Inc President, Johanna Selleck, said the proposal would impact the visual and environmental amenity of those who live in and enjoy the area.

“We need to protect every bit we’ve got left,” she told the Eastern Melburnian. “It just doesn’t make sense to dump soil on food-producing land. It’s death by a thousand cuts.”

Selleck said while the land had degraded over time and was used for farming, it was still an essential habitat for kangaroos and birdlife.

“We’ve devoted years of work to revegetating in the area,” she said. “For us to then see the potential for bringing in weeds and contaminants concerns us greatly.”

Selleck was also concerned about Monbulk Creek, which is about 200 metres from the proposed site and home to a platypus population already under threat from stormwater pollution, littering, flooding events and habitat and biodiversity loss.

The Eastern Melburnian reached out to Salesian Society Inc, but they refused to comment.