The Ti Tree Bioenergy waste disposal facility (the Facility) utilises waste to generate energy. The Facility was established in 2002 and is located in Willowbank.

The Planning and Environment court issued a development permit for the Facility in 2002. This included a ‘Contributions for Local Environmental Improvements’ condition. Under this condition, the operator (Ti Tree Bioenergy) pays Council an annual payment for community and environmental improvements. Council, together with impacted stakeholders, decides what improvement projects the payments are used for.

Council has a transparent governance framework for the management and administration of the payments. The framework allows projects to be:

• identified by community and Council
• assessed against criteria to ensure compliance of the Development condition
• implemented in the community

In the project identification phase, the community can suggest suitable projects to be funded by the payments. This is done through the Project Identification Submission (below). The identified projects will then be assessed against the Eligibility and Assessment criteria. Through Committee, Council then makes the final decision on which projects will receive funding.

The Ti Tree Working Group within Council assesses all submissions against the Eligibility and Assessment criteria. This ensures open and transparent selection of projects. Engagement with relevant stakeholders is also undertaken.

The Working Group then makes recommendations to Committee for final decision making and approval. If approved by Council, the projects are implemented.

The community will be able to view a list of the selected projects on this page.

An annual review is undertaken to ensure that successful projects meet the requirements of the Development condition.