Northern Grampians Shire Council has withdrawn from a five-council alliance created to collectively advocate to State Government on issues including transmission lines, renewable energy and mining.
The alliance, formed in February this year, also includes Buloke, Gannawarra, Yarriambiack and Loddon councils, which are all directly impacted by or near to the proposed alignment for the Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector, VNI West, transmission line and proposed renewables.
Northern Grampians Shire deputy mayor Justine Hide said alliance members had been exploring common ground in relation to challenges created by transmission line, renewable energy and mining projects in their regions.
She said after further discussions, Northern Grampians councillors had decided to withdraw from the alliance.
"Our shire is in quite a different position to the other four councils," she said.
"The vast majority of our farmers are strongly opposed to the proposed VNI West transmission line project, which is not necessarily the case in all the other shires.
"Our overriding priority as a council is to strongly support the wellbeing and resilience of our farming community, given its vital importance to our municipality and the fact that agriculture overwhelmingly underpins our local economy."
Cr Hide said for an alliance to work, all parties needed to have common interests.
"After our initial two meetings, it became apparent that our council has less in common than the other councils involved, particularly when it comes to VNI West," she said.
"That doesn't mean we won't work with other councils moving forward. For example, for the past two years we have run monthly online transmission forums, which have proven a valuable source of information for all stakeholders, including other councils."
