Port of Portland faces residential encroachment challenge

<p>A draft report for Glenelg Shire Council, Glenleg Industrial land Use Plan, has identified urban growth as a threat to Portland’s port and the industries that use it.</p> <p>&#8220Residential areas to the south of the port precinct are as close as 150 metres,&#8221 the report states. </p> <p>&#8220The proximity of the port precinct to residential and retail precincts will require careful placement of future expansion.&#8221</p> <p>As an example among several possible future flashpoints, the port stakeholders’ group, Portland Industry Forum, has expressed concern about housing being built around the Incitec Pivot fertiliser factory.</p> <p>The report, from consultancy MacroPlan Australia to assist in the industrial development in the region, also notes concern that grain transport through the port, which makes up 40% of its business, may be rerouted through Geelong or Melbourne.</p> <p>More positively, it identifies opportunities for the building of a rail freight intermodal terminal of 10 ha-50 ha, dependent on the Mt Gambier-Heywood rail line being reactivated and development of processing facilities in the region.</p> <p>The report said the cementing of an industrial infrastructure corridor between Heywood and Portland was of strategic importance for industry development and to offset urban development pressure.</p> <br />