Mackas Sand Project - Mod 2

I don't like the proposal and how it's going down. I use the bus all the time, and have used it for 13 years, and it's never been as bad as it is now, to get across to the bus and to access public transport.

I am worried about elderly people in old cars getting out onto Nelson Bay Rd from Banksia Grove. We need traffic signs to slow the traffic down, as it is now, and when there's lots of fast trucks going past, someone is going to have an accident or get killed.

I have lived here 7 years and catch the buses to go to Nelson Bay. When you come back, you need to cross Nelson Bay Rd, and you can't cross. You're really dicing with death. They don't care and don't slow down.

The buses for the older people are very difficult to access. It is very dangerous. The trucks come past going very fast. A couple of people have gone out and nearly been collected by a couple of trucks out the front.

I think that if there is going to be a lot of trucks, we will find it very hard to get out of Banksia Grove. One Sunday, I was turning right, and a truck was coming. An elderly man was in front of me, and he got out, and this truck was going to fast I thought there was going to be an accident.

Anyone who needs to get the bus, I feel with their walking sticks, we need lights, or something so people can cross the road. So far it's not too bad, but if there are more trucks, it'll become too much.

I wish to register my concern at the increase in the number of sand mining trucks passing Banksia Grove village on Nelson Bay Rd, Williamtown, adding to the heavy traffic load that already exists.

We are a village of over 200 elderly residents who find it increasingly difficult and dangerous to cross the road to reach the bus stop opposite the village.

The speed at which all traffic travels makes it impossible to cross the road safely. At present, residents returning from Nelson Bay are forced to travel to the airport to catch a second bus back to the village so as not to have to cross the road to their home.

We ask that a 70km/h speed limit be introduced immediately, that a traffic island/refuge would offer a degree of safety, traffic lights in conjunction with a refuge island would be the ideal solution.

Traffic is not only a problem with pedestrians, but also cars leaving the village when turning right to go to Newcastle are finding it more and more difficult to break into traffic flow.

I am more concerned, not so much about the traffic, but crossing the road with the volume of traffic and trucks. It is important to take our safety into account. The 5am start is ridiculous when the airport doesn't even start until 6am.

I drive a car and it's very hard trying to get a vehicle in and out of Nelson Bay Rd, from Banksia Grove especially turning right to go to Newcastle. Being new to the area, the traffic here does get a bit much. We need traffic signs to help show that this is an area with elderly residents.

For safety reasons, we at Banksia Grove are against this proposal. Big business greed shouldn't be more important than public safety.

We need a zebra crossing or lights at Banksia Grove, as so many people cannot get in and out due to the trucks and the speeding. Can not catch a bus as the cars and trucks are going very fast. I have a walker and the bus can never pick up the walker.

I object to the application made by Macka's Sand to increase in truck movement onto Nelson Bay Road for the following reasons.
* Increase risk of an accident at the new intersection accessing Macka's Sand site and Nelson Bay Road
o the existing approved allows truck movements through this intersection every 225 seconds.
o this will increase to every 75 seconds under the new application. This will have a serious safety impact on the safety of other road users.
* Increase risk of an accident at the Nelson Bay Road/ Richardson Road roundabout.
o It is stated that 21000 vehicles a day pass through this roundabout. According to the traffic study 2113 vehicles each hour pass through this roundabout in the morning peak of which 7.9% are classified as a heavy vehicle. This equates to 169 heavy vehicles in an hour or one every 21.5 seconds.
o I question the definition of a heavy vehicle. I frequently use this roundabout and have never seen that volume of trucks. ( I assume a heavy vehicle is over 8 tonne with a double back axle.)
o All traffic travelling to and from Nelson Bay Area pass through this roundabout. It is the only way into the Nelson Bay Area.
* I can find no information on traffic impacts on the Williams Town roundabout. This roundabout with receive greater volumes of traffic as a result of the RAAF base upgrade.
* This traffic study was carried out on Tuesday 28 May 2015.
o This does not take into account the huge increase in traffic volumes during holiday periods when the population of the Nelson Bay Area doubles.
o Nelson Bay is a holiday destination and this approval could seriously impact on people's desire to come here due to perceived travel risks and delays.
* At the public meeting the representative of Macka's Sand - Mr Robert Mackenzie - stated that there would be no increase in truck movements from his site. If this is true then this application for an increase in truck movement is unnecessary. This application should therefore be refused.
* At present there a number of sand mining operation that rely on the Nelson Bay to Newcastle road. At present there is approval to move over 3,000,000 tonnes of sand a year by this road with two more sand mines proposed. Until this main artery is upgraded to haul road standard all further expansions of mining operations should be put on hold.

Besides degrading our beaches and environment by carting away and selling essential sands, the project if approved will cause undue congestion on Nelson Bay Road which is the only road in and out of the peninsula. Adding to that, Nelson Bay Road is increasingly becoming a busy road used by both the residents and tourists. Further, the B-Doubles would create an unwarranted danger to local school children.

Besides degrading our beaches and environment by carting away and selling essential sands, the project if approved will cause undue congestion on Nelson Bay Road which is the only road in and out of the peninsula. Adding to that, Nelson Bay Road is increasingly becoming a busy road used by both the residents and tourists. Further, the B-Doubles would create an unwarranted danger to local school children.

This proposal is requesting an increase in truck movements to two sand quarry sites even though the operator has stated at a public meeting that there will be no increase in trucks. Whilst I understand the argument that greater flexibilty is required to load trucks in a timely manner, this application gives the operator the capacity to more than double the amount of trucks coming to and from the sites involved.
My concerns relate to increased traffic, in particular the effect that this will have on other road users and pedestrians. The congestion at the Richardson Road roundabout (Paul's corner) and the Lemon Tree Passage roundabout as trucks access the sites already presents difficulty for motorists and particularly for pedestrians.
I would ask that the Planning Department consider these issues and should the application be approved, impose conditions that will benefit all motorists and safeguard pedestrians (which includes numerous school students) crossing this busy road.

35 Chris Avenue
Salt Ash NSW 2318
M 0488552064
18 August 2015

Attention: Executive Director, Resource Assessments & Compliance Planning Services
Department of Planning & Environment
GPO Box 39
SYDNEY NSW 2001

Fax: (02) 9228 6455

SUBMISSION

To whom it may concern

I am writing to express my extreme concern regarding the safety of pedestrians and school traffic, at the roundabout on Nelson Bay Road outside the Salt Ash Public School. My concerns extend to the speed of which the heavy vehicles enter and travel through the roundabout.

As a member of the Salt Ash Public School Parents and Citizens Association I felt a strong urge to discover what action could be taken. I attended the public meeting held at Williamtown Hall on Thursday 6th August, to discuss the application to increase truck movements for Mackas Sand.

I have witnessed unsafe driving from B-double trucks during the past six months at this roundabout. Driving in the roundabout near the school has led to many near misses. When accessing the school a right hand turn is required to exit the roundabout from the left lane, recently I have found fast moving trucks have entered the roundabout in the same lane at considerable speed.

I therefore am requesting an enforceable change to the speed limit along all major roads leading to both roundabouts in Salt Ash. At most a stop to truck movements between 7-9am and 230-530pm.

While we accept the speed entrance to the school has been reduced. It is our other school students safety that is also is of concern. Bus stops are on both sides of Nelson Bay Rd, adjacent to the roundabout and require children from aged 5 to cross the road where there is no pedestrian crossing. Children attend other schools in the area and are often required to run across the road. Some children attend schools on the Tomaree Peninsular and others travel in the opposite directions - through to Raymond Terrace or Newcastle.

Another point of consideration is the holiday traffic that frequents the area during the summer periods, their continued support of the area increases the traffic by two-fold already.

I have been a Salt Ash resident for over 6 years and my son attends Salt Ash Public School. As he moves on in his schooling he will be attending high school within 2 years, he will need to catch a bus from one of the bus stops on either side of the dual lane road.

The children need protection from the fast moving trucks.

Kind regards

Kylie Smart

The community and surroundings need to be taken into account. Pedestrians also use these roads. Emphasising one section on Nelson Bay road at the Lemon tree Passgge round about turnoff where trucks will be entering and exiting and to the next roundabout at Pauls corner. Every school day I personally feel like we are playing Russian roulette to cross over from one side to the other side for use of the bus stops for school. There are many pedestrians who use the bus stops, School, Pre school, Church, and the services at Pauls corner on this strip of road. This road is becoming increasingly dangerous let alone adding more trucks. Please please something needs to be done before we loose lives from our community.

As a regular user of Nelson Bay Road I find the suggestion that more trucks be allowed to use this road absurd.
The two roundabouts (Paul's Corner & Oakvale Rd) are very busy roundabouts and the truck movements on both are already high. I regularly see trucks coming from Oakvale road turning left onto Nelson Bay Rd pulling out in front of traffic (I realise the proprietor is not responsible for the drivers) when they should be waiting and giving way.
I have also been driving from Nelson Bay towards Newcastle and used the roundabout at Paul's corner to gain access to Richardson rd and trucks coming from Newcastle towards the sand mine have cut across in front of the traffic turning in the roundabout. Again I understand that these are policing issues BUT if the flow is to be increased these problems will increase as a result.
Because I am a regular user of this road I am aware of these occurrences and make allowances (not that I should have to!) what of the tourists that are always in the area?.
The volume of traffic on holiday weekends and during the summer school holidays will also add to these increased truck movements.
I believe this is a disaster waiting to happen.

I wish to object in the strongest possible terms to the proposal to increase the number of truck movements from Lot 218. I believe that the application is lacking is so many details that it should be rejected.

I live in Nelson Bay and travel along Nelson Bay road to Williamtown for employment daily. Over the past few years there has been a noticeable increase in the numbers of sand trucks along the road, initially accessing Lot 220 and this year through the new entrance to Lot 218.

I don't dispute the need to supply sand to the local and Sydney market or provide employment; however nowhere within the application is there any proof of the need to increase the number of movements during the day. It is not sufficient to make a claim that it will allow the applicant to meet the maximum allowable 1 million tonnes rate per year, this is a commercial issue and in the lease there is a total amount that may be extracted out of the area but it doesn't have to be within the minimum number of years, there is no reason why it cannot operate for 15 to 20 years rather than 10 to 15 years.

No figures are provided of current extraction rates or the expected demand in the future. Yes there will be more demand but no proof is provided that the current rate of truck movements will not be able to handle the demand. The development at the Williamtown RAAF base has already commenced and shouldn't be used as a justification.

No proof is supplied that the proposed demand cannot be met by the current approved movements from Lot 220 or via the other approved access road to Lot 218 via Lavis Lane. At no stage has the application asked to have these cancelled, reduced or transferred to the Nelson Bay Road access of Lot 218. There may already be enough allowed movement to meet the demand out of Nelson Bay Road for the next 10 years, it simply isn't stated anywhere.

At a public meeting which was reported by the {Port Stephens Examiner 13/8/2015) one of the applicants said very clearly that the annual tonnage of mined sand and number of truck movements would not change" This is clearly not what is in the application.

When there is a demonstrated requirement for increased market demand that cannot be met by the current approved access routes and other commercial operators in the area, then it may be appropriate to make such an application.

The use of a booking system for the trucks would overcome the requirement stated by the applicant to overcome the need to be able to load as many trucks whenever they arrive. This simply doesn't make sense as they would also need to have enough staff and equipment to meet this need. A commercial operator is not going to send trucks 2.5 to 3 hours from Sydney without a guarantee of getting loaded, this can only be achieved by have a booking/appointment system that all other professionally run businesses would use that meets the current approved traffic movements.

The Traffic study for the application I believe is totally inadequate and should be rejected. There is close examination of the stretch of Nelson Bay Road from near the entrance to Lot 218 through to the roundabout at Richardson Road. The figures may appear to be reasonable but when you travel every day on the road you observe the trucks having to negotiate the roundabouts from either the other lane, or taking up one and half lanes.

As all traffic that exits from Lot 218 must travel west along Nelson Bay Road no consideration has been accounted for the tourist activities and accommodation villages (generally elderly residents) through to the Medowie Road roundabout.

No account has been taken of the traffic through the roundabouts at Medowie Road (3500 employees at the RAAF Base, an increasing population of Medowie, traffic from the Pacific Highway travelling along Medowie Road towards Newcastle), the traffic entering and exiting the Newcastle Airport and Business park which is growing nor the traffic at the roundabout at Lavis lane/Cabbage Tree road (current and approved tourist centres/fast food outlets) that these trucks must travel through. This stretch of road must also carry all other trucks movements from the other sand mines in the area and there has been no discussion within the report.

In summary there is no demonstrated proof of the need to increase the truck rate and the traffic study doesn't cover the exiting trucks through Williamtown which are fully loaded.

I wish to register my strong objection to this unnecessary increase in truck movements through this unsuitable and unsafe access to the last piece of two lane road on the main route to the Tomaree Peninsula. This proponent has another much safer and more suitable access already approved to lot 218 through Lavis Lane to a much safer roundabout, but is reluctant to use it because of a petty royalty dispute he refuses to settle with a neighbour.
This became apparent at the recent public meeting on this proposal I attended at the Williamtown hall that was addressed by representatives of the Planning Dept., the R.M.S. and the proponents themselves, when it was revealed that the Lavis Lane access to the mine still has current approval.
This is just another chapter in the battle of the local Sand Barons. As was pointed out at the meeting, the PAC does not have to take account of other proposals for future mines when assessing this application, so by getting in first, this will limit the capacity of others to follow and will inevitably lead an even more dominant position for Macka's Sand by tying up the remaining transport capacity, even if they don't need it now, as they stated. This is even more important to them now that it has been shown that Mackas Sand have been breaching existing conditions, counting two truck movements as one as revealed in the Newcastle Herald 07 Aug 2015.
I lived in Singleton in the Hunter Valley at the beginning of the coal mining boom before the rail line was duplicated to Newcastle Port, and remember well what it was like mixing cars with nose to tail, noisy, very large semi-trailers at speed through the town, and all the way to Newcastle at all hours on a two lane road. I would not kike to see the travellers to Port Stephens have to take their lives in their hands every day in a repeat of that scenario.
It may be a better option for the users of this narrow piece of road to have the PAC consider Lavis Lane as an alternative access point to prevent this bottleneck, instead of making it worse, but of course that resurrects the old royalty problem for Mackas Sand. Public safety consideration over private commercial interest. Over to you PAC.

To Whom it may concern,
I wish to lodge my objection to the proposed extension of trading hours and thus the increase in truck turn around for the business Macca Sands which has been lodged by Robert MacKenzie.
Nelson Bay road is a busy main road that has many black spots and has seen many tragic accidents. I feel the safety of residents who have to exit and enter their homes would be at risk. The elderly residents of Banksia Grove (retirement village) already are placed at significant risk when using public transport having to cross a busy road where the speed limit is 80km/h and many cars travel well in excess of that (in fact this would be the norm).
Children are required to cross the road for school and again this places them at risk. Should there be an increase in truck movements crossing the road for these vulnerable groups would be hazardous and will no doubt end in serious injuries.
The hours that are being sought are long and will impact on those people who reside in the area. The noise from the trucks will be heard and effect their lifestyle. People have a right to sleeping hours!
I would like to submit that the proposal be denied.