Furious residents outside Melbourne's western fringe are mobilising to fight off Australia's largest freight operator in fear of their quiet, country lives being ruined by freight truck activity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Little River — a 20-minute drive from the outer suburb of Werribee and about half-an-hour out of Geelong — is home to 1,400 people who love the rural feel of their community precisely because it is a "green wedge zone" protected from urban development.

The Little River Logistics Precinct project planned for a 550-hectare site east of the Little River township has spurred them into action, with a passionate crowd gathering on Saturday in protest.

Demonstrators brought along a 25-metre crane as a visual guide for how stacked shipping containers would look across the landscape. 

"We moved here knowing that this land would not be developed," president of the Little River Action Group, Adrian Hamilton said.

"This freight terminal will kill our town.

"It makes no sense that residential development is banned on the green wedge, but they are proposing an industrial freight monolith in the centre of a fragile and threatened ecosystem."

Green wedge is a planning term for land outside Melbourne's urban growth boundary that functions as an environmental and agricultural buffer between city and country.

"It's a disaster for the west — everywhere we have the problem of excessive trucks and this will just aggravate it further," Victorian MP for the Western Metro region and member of Legalise Cannabis Victoria, David Ettershank said.

"There will be shipping containers stacked up to seven high, up to 1,500 trucks a day shipping stuff back into it."

Mr Ettershank called on the state minister for environment, Steve Dimopoulos, to intervene.

Grassy Plains Network facilitator Adrian Marshall said the freight terminal would impact the equivalent of around 75 football fields of rare volcanic plain grassland and sit on a river system that feeds into wetlands.

"There are species that are about to disappear...there just isn't that much left that we can afford to have this happen," he said.

Resident and business owner Emma Costin said protecting her area from becoming a freight hub was important to her family. 

"For us to lay down and let this happen without questioning why this area's being destroyed for a commercial purpose I think it would be wrong for us not to fight it," she said.

Council denies permits to freight operator

Wyndham City Council rejected two applications by Pacific National for vegetation removal from the site in February this year. 

Pacific National's appeal of council's decision via VCAT, is due to be heard on September 23. 

Wyndham councillor Heather Marcus said the permits had been voted down by councillors eight votes to three.

"Our logo is 'city, coast and country' so we want to make sure we preserve our country areas," she said.

The Victorian government said the Minister for Planning decided in December last year that an environment effects statement (EES) was needed for the Little River Logistics Precinct project.

A government spokesperson said "no decision will be made before the EES has been independently reviewed".

The Department of Transport and Planning states the precinct will take 25 years to build.

New terminal critical to meet demand, operator says

Pacific National says Little River is in a critical location — west of Melbourne and close to the state's manufacturing and logistics industry, and beside the interstate rail line.

The company, which is Australia's biggest freight operator, says The Little River Precinct project is currently going through a comprehensive environmental assessment, which involves community input and will take 12 to 18 months.

If a freight terminal is not secured in Melbourne's west on the main interstate rail, the company website says, there will be hundreds of thousands of additional truck trips on Melbourne's roads in coming years, increasing carbon emissions and traffic congestion.

Pacific National states the terminal would cover 550 hectares east of the Little River township, of which 350 would be a warehousing precinct, leaving "200 hectares for biodiversity and rehabilitation of the critical western grasslands".

"The site has been identified by Pacific National as a future terminal location as it is in a prime position on the existing main interstate freight line and allows for direct access to the rail network and is halfway between Geelong and Melbourne's CBD," a spokesperson said.

"Close to the Princes Freeway, the proposed terminal site would deliver efficient road connectivity for nearby logistics companies, warehouses, manufacturers and distribution centres that are concentrated in the western suburbs of Melbourne."