North East Link Project

The North East Link project is one of the largest road infrastructure projects in Melbourne for many years. It involves a new freeway linking the end of the Metropolitan Ring Road at Greensborough with the Eastern Freeway in Heidelberg. Substantial widening of the Eastern Freeway is also required. The total project value is over $15 billion.

What it involved

This extensive, complex project has required assessment and approval under both State and Commonwealth legislation and planning policies. This project is subject to a Victorian state assessment under the Environment Effects Act 1978 through an Environment Effects Statement (EES) and a Public Environment Report (PER) assessment under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

Outcome

A Nature Advisory team comprising our Principal Consultant and two Senior Ecologists was retained by the North East Link Project to peer review the ecological assessment, including the detailed Ecology Technical Report, the Ecology chapter of the EES, the Ecology Technical Report for the PER and the Ecology chapter of the PER. The peer review was staged, including an initial review of the methods to capture any gaps and seasonal issues, followed by review of the results including detailed ground-truthing of field data collected, and the impact assessment and environmental performance requirements. Our Principal Consultant appeared as an expert witness at the Planning Panel convened by the Minister for Planning to review the EES.