By Glen Atwell
A CASEY Council decision to waive rates on 1000 properties in the methane-laden Brookland Greens estate has failed to ease the concerns of angry residents.
More than 200 people crammed into the Balla Balla Community Centre in Cranbourne for Tuesday night’s council meeting.
The boisterous public gallery heckled councillor Lorraine Wreford after she recommended rate relief only be provided to residents directly affected by the leaching methane gas.
Cr Steve Beardon was also jeered when he moved that the matter be heard behind closed doors.
As homeowners brace themselves for a sharp decline in property value, the State Ombudsman is launching an investigation into the methane crisis.
The involvement of the City of Casey, government agencies and estate developer Peet in the catastrophe will be closely scrutinised.
For some, the blame game has already begun.
In a recent statement, Peet said it had urged council for two years to improve the management of the landfill, which is producing methane gas at the incredible rate of 1200 cubic metres an hour.
Council officers are preparing to drill more bores and dig a trench on the boundary of the landfill to vent the gas.
An additional 250 in-home air monitors will also be installed.
Brookland Greens resident Che Oakley said an air monitor placed in his home was deemed ‘faulty’ after it began beeping madly when his family moved back into the estate on Saturday night.
“I was worried that it had detected methane gas. But council told me that the monitor was probably broken,” he said.
“I’m still waiting for it to be replaced.”
Mr Oakley, his wife Kym and their three children fled Brookland Greens last Thursday night.
“The only option we had was to go and stay with family in Leongatha. That’s more than an hour away from Cranbourne.
“I work in the city and Kym works in Dandenong. It was impossible to stay down there,” Mr Oakley said.
“We were told to leave the estate to be safe. But it’s not that easy. You can’t just turn up on the doorstep of a family member with your wife and kids and expect them to put their lives on hold,” he said.
Twenty-nine families have vacated Brookland Greens since the alarm was raised last Wednesday.
The next public meeting will be held at 7pm on Thursday 25 September at the Balla Balla Centre.
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