MOYNE Shire Council will spend $25,000 on a study to assess native grasslands after unforeseen regulations "boxed in" a drover who had council permission to graze roadsides.
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The council will also express "disappointment" in writing to Victorian Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio and Roads Minister Jaala Pulford over the state government's lack of co-operation during the droving.
But the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning says it was not consulted by the council over a permit granted to a NSW drover in March.
The council granted the drover permission to graze cattle on council roadsides to assist drought-stricken farmers and reduce the council's roadside vegetation.
The council, which is the responsible body for granting droving applications, engaged with state and federal authorities prior to the droving, and provided the drover with a route using council maps from 2009 showing where it was believed medium and high density grasslands were.
But weeks into the exercise drover John Wilson received a list of out-of-bounds roads from DELWP that contained medium to high native grasslands, making it impossible for him to move the cattle. The cattle were ultimately trucked back to NSW.
Cr Daniel Meade, who moved a successful motion at the June council meeting to write to the ministers and to fund the native vegetation study, said the government had questions to answer over the unforeseen restrictions.
"We have done our due diligence, we had workshops with both parties, I believe we were as well prepared as we could be. I don't think anyone could have foreseen the DELWP and VicRoads restrictions," Cr Meade said.
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But DELWP environmental compliance manager Courtney Johnson said while the department engaged with the council about droving there had been no consultation over the permit.
"DELWP proactively assists councils and Regional Roads Victoria in the management of droving enquires," Ms Johnson said.
"This includes provision of biodiversity information to allow informed decisions on droving applications, particularly droving routes, and outlining permit requirements associated with the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act before the issuing of droving permits by council.
"DELWP was not consulted on the droving permit application nor the route, including areas of high and medium grassland values, before a permit was issued and droving route approved by Moyne Shire."
She said the key source of information used by DELWP to inform the location and classification of roadside native grassland was Moyne Shire's own roadside conservation mapping data set.
"DELWP's publicly accessible Victorian Biodiversity Atlas is also available to information locations of associated FFG listed threatened species," Ms Johnson said.
Cr Meade said ultimately he hoped his motion would lead to a "positive way forward" for shire droving.
"Part of that motion was to seek full access to medium conservation roads. To get that achieved would be a successful outcome for the shire and making roadsides safer for ratepayers," he said.
One of the cattle owners, Geoff Allan, said the ordeal had been confusing and he was disappointed with state authorities.
"After all they are stock routes first and foremost," Mr Allan said.
"The public has a right to have a say in how they should see things done. If the majority of Moyne Shire residents want cattle on their roads they should be able to do it."
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