Both the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) and Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) advised they would not provide General Terms of Approval (GTA) for Blantyre Farms’ planned Harden piggery.

Hilltops council general manager Anthony McMahon said the response from the agencies would significantly influence the remainder of the assessment process.

“Council is unable to consent to the application, however a full planning assessment that considers all factors in addition to those relevant to the agencies will still need to be undertaken as a legislative requirement,” Mr McMahon said.

It is likely that the final determination on the application will be made at a meeting in March, however the responses from the EPA and OEH means council will have no choice but to refuse the application, Mr McMahon said.

Council is required to undertake a full planning assessment report detailing all reasons for refusal.

“It is important for completeness of process and accountability that a full assessment of the application is undertaken so that should any further action result in relation to the proposal all stakeholders are clear on the assessment of the proposal,” Mr McMahon said.

The main objector to the development, Lisa Ryan, said it was a huge victory and the result of 14 months’ hard work. Ms Ryan started a Facebook page – Say No To Blantyre Farms In Harden – which was central to defeating the proposal.

“Obviously the final decision needs to be made by Hilltops Council, but given two out of three agencies said no they have no option but to refuse to allow it to go ahead,” Ms Ryan said.

“We’ve been able to raise a huge amount of awareness and I think there are a lot of people opposed to this type of farming, even in rural areas.”

However, Blantyre Farms’ Edwina Beveridge was one of many farmers who complained about dirty tactics employed by animal liberation groups looking for “sensationalist footage” to sway public opinion.

In December, Mrs Beveridge told Fairfax Media that activists had broken into her farm on 10 separate occasions.

The Daily Advertiser attempted to contact Mrs Beveridge for this story to respond to the decision.