Brandy Hill Expansion Project

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I object to the proposal

We strongly oppose the application in its current form as per submission attached.

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please refer PDF attachment titled "Brandy Hill Quarry Expansion Objection 080417"

Giles Road Resident - Objection to the Brandy Hill Quarry Expansion

I am a resident of Giles Rd, and live within 1km of the Quarry. I am strongly opposed to the expansion of the Brandy Hill Quarry. My objection to the extension of current quarry resources follow some of the key issues as outlined in the Environmental Assessments and include, but are not limited to: Socio- economic impact, Noise and blasting, Air quality, Traffic, Ecology, Surface and groundwater. We are strongly opposed to increased operational hours, including crushing and blasting, and for quarry operations and transport to be increased to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

I am a Business Management Consultant, Sessional Academic and mother of three young children, aged 4months, 2.5years, and 4 years. Our family moved to Seaham two years ago as part of our "tree-change". We looked forward to the lifestyle and quality of rural living - great communities, great schools, clean air, safer roads and a healthier environment. The proposed expansion of the Quarry will have a significant cumulative socio-economic impact on this area.

There will be a great impact on our local social and health amenities, including visual, traffic, noise, vibration and air quality. The Seaham area and its surrounds have high social value and include local and regional natural conservation areas (Hunter Estuary Wetlands, Stockton Sand Dunes), engaged and dynamic rural communities, businesses and schools. The extension of the quarry will impact on Seaham and its surround negatively.

We are concerned about the impact on Air Quality. Although the Air Quality Impact Assessment rates the air impact as potentially low, as a local resident, I often see dust plumes over the quarry. These dust plumes and their movement on wind currents are particularly evident at twilight and I am already concerned regarding the health impact that this dust has on my, and my children's, health. I live on a hill, and have a good vantage and view of the surrounding landscape. The dust plumes over the quarry are extensive and I do not believe that the extension would remain a "low" impact at all.
Quarry operations already excrete air pollutants that are extremely dangerous and toxic to human health. Monitoring of current Brandy Hill Quarry Operations is already inadequate. Emissions from the blasts are extremely concerning. Increasing blasting will only increase existing health concerns and issues about air quality.

There are currently inadequate monitoring stations to monitor and collate information regarding quarry air and noise pollutants. How will the proposed quarry expansion impact on our air quality and health if there is already inadequate monitoring?

I am concerned about the long term health implications of the proposed extension for myself and my children. I am concerned that we are already greatly aware and regularly hear noise and blasting, including crushing, from the quarry. We are concerned about the vibrations and noise from the quarry.

Increased heavy vehicle movements will significantly affect the amenity of the area. Seaham and Brandy Hill are home to many families. There are several schools, preschools and school bus stops that service the surrounds. There is already a safety concern addressed by residents of this area about their ability to safely and comfortably move on Brandy Hill Drive and Clarencetown Road, particularly in terms of cycling, walking, horse riding, accessing bus stops and the pre-school. The road shoulders are inadequate for these functions.

Although the EIS/Traffic Impact Assessment states that the projected traffic increases will be within the local and regional road network capacity we are extremely concerned. One of our key concerns is the proposed 24 hour operations and trucking movements and the associated increase in traffic, noise, dust and diesel emissions. Brandy Hill Drive and Clarencetown Road are already extremely busy rural roads, with high speed limits (80-100kms). Heavy vehicle movements along these roads are already a concern and the physical condition of the road, which is poor, is already posing road safety issues. There are numerous dangerous pot-holes and significant road edge erosion on these roads.
Consideration must also be made to the cumulative transport impact associated with the proposal of the Brandy Hill Quarry and the proposed Martins Creek Quarry. The estimated combined daily total of 988 quarry trucks on Brandy Hill Drive alone is astonishing and the impact of 24hour movements will be massive. The number and intensity of trucks would cause an unreasonable and unacceptable impact on the environment. In this case, the environment being the residents and users of these roads.

I am concerned that the potential impact on the environment has been inadequately addressed by the proposal. The extension of the quarry is likely to have a significant impact on listed threatened species and communities including the Koala and Grey-headed Flying-fox. The proposed action will result in the clearance of habitat critical to the survival of these species and a number of other endangered or vulnerable species as highlighted in the EIS. Clearance of 48.65ha of undisturbed vegetation as proposed in the application includes 45.8 hectares of confirmed habitat for Koala. As a resident of Giles Road who regularly walks along Giles Road and Croft Road (bounded by the Quarry) I am concerned for our local koalas and other wildlife.

The extension of quarry operations, resources and transport at Brandy Hill is concerning and will greatly affect the lifestyle, health and well-being of the area and its residents. I want my children to grow up in an area where the air is clean and free of toxic pollutants, the roads are safe and the community is strong and dynamic. I want my children to benefit from growing up in an area that is environmentally sound, where wildlife thrives, the popular Wetlands are healthy and the local water areas are thriving. I want to wake up and hear the sounds of birds calling, not be woken by the sound of quarry blasts and feel its vibrations 24 hours a day. I want my children to be able to travel to school on a road that is safe, to feel comfortable with them using the school bus stops. I want to know that I own a home in an area that is growing and increasing in value from a social and financial point of view - not one that is going to suffer the financial effects of heavy industry and degraded air quality, dangerous roads and denuded wildlife. I am a concerned mother. I am a concerned resident.

Submission is attached in PDF Form.

See file attached - please inform me immediately if no file is attached.

I wish to register my strongest objection to the proposed expansion to the Hanson Brandy Hill Quarry.
My understanding is Hanson is seeking to have the existing operating hours changed from 6.00am to 6.00pm Monday to Friday and 6.00am to 1.00 pm on Saturdays, to a 24 x 7 operation, with up to 844 truck passing our house every day. Just from that one quarry.
I do not oppose the continued operation of the quarry so long as the existing hours of operation remain unchanged, and there are no more trucks on the road than there currently are. As it is my freedom to move around our residential area is greatly restricted due to the increase in the number of trucks on our road some of which we are sure are coming from Dracon's Martins Creek quarry
Let me make it clear, we live on Brandy Hill Drive, and hear and see the trucks going to the quarries from as early as 4.30am to 4.40 am with a steady increase through the morning with empty trucks going north to the quarries and loaded trucks go south from the quarries. As there is no shared pathway at all along this road way, I am scared to ride my bike and as just north of our place there is not even a shoulder on the road, it is no longer safe to go walking in the morning through fear of being hit by a truck.
For my health, it is important I go walking daily and it is ridiculous that we live on a country road yet, for the morning walk, I have to drive away to a safe place.
So, I would say that, even for the continued operation of the quarries, improvements to the road and the building of a shared pathway should be supplied. I know Port Stephens Council has a responsibility for our roads and role to play. Council's Senior development planner wrote to Hanson on 15 April 2013 and noted that "potential traffic impacts appear to be a critical issue" and "Council would like to note that its records indicate that a number of complaints have been received from nearby residents regarding traffic impacts during operation of the existing quarry" Traffic numbers and noise are critical issues for our family.
We have grand children that come to stay from time to time and who want to venture out of our driveway on their bikes, but are restricted by us to stay within our boundary.
Also, I would like to be able to take my young grandchildren for a walk in their pram as I consider this is a normal thing for any mother or grandmother to be able to do. BUT NO. Not if you live on Brandy Hill Drive at the moment with the size of the trucks and the number of movements of the trucks.

It is not fair as I see. Our amenity is taken away.

Please refer to attached file.

Please refer to my submission attached regards concerns with the current EIS for Brandy Hill quarry expansion.

See attached

Refer attached

My submission objecting to the scale of the proposal is attached.

I object to the BHQ EIS in it's current format.

Whilst my household is not directly effected by the proposal I utilize the roads proposed to be used in this development, I live in the general locality of the proposal and I have close friends (on Brandy Hill Dr) who are currently impacted and will be further impacted by the proposal.

I object to the proposal on the following grounds;

1. the road network proposed to be utilized for the expansion of BHQ includes local gov roads (local roads and subarterial roads) that have not be designed or constructed for the proposed magnitude of heavy haulage. No assessment has been made as to the current pavement adequacy for the proposed increase in heavy haulage. The current brandy hill drive pavement is deteriorating rapidly and is completely inadequate for the proposed expansion

2. Night time transport of product proposed is absolutely ludicrous, the community and neighborhood through which trucks are proposed to travel is a rural residential community whose amenity is built around nature and rural tranquility particularity in evenings and night time when background noise is made up of inspects and wildlife only (NOT TRUCKS and TRAFFIC).

3. relying on a 1980's consent that is reliant on the fact that the consent is silent on operating hours and therefore provides an enduring right to the proponent to commence/continue night time transport or operations is miss leading. The facility does not currently export at night.

4. The current condition of road pavement where surface pot holes and surface types change and transition contributes significantly to noise from empty quarry trucks. The Noise Impact Assessment incorrectly asserts that compliance with the RNP. The RNP is based upon continuous traffic stream noise models and does not allow or account for the instantaneous noise that occurs from empty quarry trucks hitting pot holes and pavement transitions nor does the RNP account for engine noise and engine breaking noise from heavy vehilces which is a significant "real" contributor to noise distrubance of heavy vehilces. The actual impacts from night time transport will be far greater than is "construed" in the proponents EIS.

5. there has been no real assessment on impacts to amenity within the EIS aside from dust and noise. Amenity is in fact a subjective term and means different things to different people, in the context of BHQ the communities amenity means pleasant rural environments and serenity. No assessment as to the impacts on amenity have been made in the EIS. Why should the local community "pay" for loss of amenity for the commercial "gain" of a business. It is this business who has chosen to exploit a resource 10 to 20km away from arterial transport infrastructure, if the resource is so important to their business and the state then the proponent should be required to make sincere commitments to improve infrastructure (including roads) to get the resource to market.

6. no assessment has been as to the feasibility of rail transport or dedicated new haul roads of product form the site to eliminate the need to utilize local roads

7. no assessment has been made as to feasibility of constructing a new haulage road/bypass that eliminates the need for heavy vehicles to travel along brandy hill drive. An obvious solution is to construct a a heavy vehilce bypass through Lot 1,2 & 3 of DP822187 (refer attachment)

8. the Seaham, Brandy Hill Dr, BHQ entrance intersection is completely inadequate and is not compliant with ausroad standards now let alone with a proposed increase of truck use age. It is common knowledge (as shown by the position of the BHQ stop sign at the quarry entrance, that trucks have to take a "run up" to cross the intersection to avoid 100km/hr traffic travelling East/West.

9. No assessment has been made of the haulage route currently used by BHQ heavy haulage traffic through Woodville, Largs, Flat Road and Lorn. Noting that this route requires the use of a one-way heritage listed bridge at Woodville

10. no real assessment has been made of the cumulative impact of BHQ and Martins Creek Quarry peak traffic impacts. The worst case scenario should be assessed i.e. peak transport form MCQ and BHQ via Raymond Terrace.

We have attached 4 documents, our submission plus 3 other supporting documents.