Corangamite Shire mayor Neil Trotter made the comment during deliberations on Tuesday night when the council refused a mechanic's request to store more vehicles at his business.

Councillors voted unanimously to refuse the Cobden business' proposal to increase the number of vehicles from 10 to 20 and change the permit conditions for storage and landscaping. The council gave the green light last year for the Cross Forest Road site to run as a mechanic's outlet with a caretaker's house attached, but with three pages of conditions attached.

Cr Trotter said the original planning permit had a number of conditions the applicant was aware of and had agreed to. "Planning conditions are not a piece of plasticine that can be moulded to suit the whim of the applicant or any other party," he said. "When conditions are attached they are put in place for a purpose and I'm supportive of the officer's recommendation."

Councillor Simon Illingworth moved a motion to refuse the changes and said it was a difficult decision last time. "But ultimately increasing vehicle storage and intensifying what is already there and I drove past there today and.... it was still a cemetery for cars," he said.

"Neighbours have got to be looked after it's not an industrial area."

Cr Jo Beard said it was disappointing the applicant hadn't adhered to the previous conditions.

She said the planning permit granted last year had considerable conditions.

She said the council visited the site and spoke with the applicant about what he wanted to achieve there.

"Knowing the issue and the trouble that this applicant has in abiding by the conditions that we already had in place I'm certainly not supportive of giving anymore leverage to this site," she said.