Martins Creek Quarry Project

My wife & I purchased vacant land18 king st 5 yrs ago with intention to retire.The truck movements are now very concerning. We are in our 70 s. Who would want to live 20 mts from up to 400 truck movements a day.VALUE of properties business would dramaticly reduce. So much for a village steeped in history & so called heritage value. Absolute Shame Please Reconsider Options. Submitted with the expectation of a favourable outcome for all parties concerned.

see attached

I live on the main road to the quarry on the other side of Paterson. All the trucks drive past my door 6 days a week from 5.30am. I have lived here for 15 years and the quarry has never been a problem. The past few years it has been noticable and an issue for us locals.
I believe 500 thousand tonnes is the approved limit that Daracon can remove, however, he has rarely stuck to this limit. He has trucked out of Martins Creek almost double this amount annually and it is unacceptable. We cannot live with the amount of trucks, noise etc etc that comes with 1 million tonnes being removed from the quarry. You commented at the meeting in the hall that you didn't think the amount was the problem is was more the restrictions on movement. Well we disagree. However, I do think that they should only be able to operate 7am‐5pm Mon ‐ Frid. We still live in a place that doesn't have 7 day trading. Most places close at 12pm Saturday. We don't want to operate like a major city.
Your department should reject the entire application as there is nothing they can do to make us live with this. We don't want an upgrade to the intersection in Paterson (to make their life easier) we just don't want any more trucks at all. You should reject the application entirely and let Dungog Council sort it out in court. It doesn't take a genius to see that no matter what fines the court comes up with as penalty for Daracon taking too much from the quarry ‐ he is financially in front by miles with the double and triple amounts he's been trucking. He pays no respect to authority or to us locals who can in his words 'Just move out'. I cannot believe that nobody has made this company in the past, use the rail line that goes directly into the quarry. No doubt the suggestion has been put forward to him but he would use the trucks regardless ‐ as they are cheaper and he doesn't seem to have to answer to anyone. Please DO NOT APPROVE this application at all because once it's approved there is no going back. The
destruction of our valley and town will be assured.

Please see attached submission from RMS.

I absolutely oppose the martins creek quarry expansion. 200 to 280 trucks going through Bolwarra a day is a disgrace. It is so hard to get out of hunterglen drive as it is without having to contend with those trucks that think they own the road. A perfect way to ruin the environment along with the koala habitat. Well Done!
Why not use the railroad that is already in place ? and keep the trucks off our already deteriorating roads. Please stop this

To whom it may concern
As a family residing in Bolwarra, just off Peterson Road we strongly object to the expansion. In particular we object to increased traffic by large trucks along Patterson and Flat Roads directly related to the expansion.

1. Safety of the community:

Children - This community has many children walking or riding bicycles to school, the increased number of trucks that this expansion will bring poses a major risk of accident to children in our community.

Residents - it is already difficult for residents of streets off Paterson Rd to turn onto Paterson Road, near misses occur frequently. With the increase in number of trucks per hour taking the proposed route will exacerbate the traffic congestion issues ultimately resulting in accidents, injury and potentially fatalities. Traffic congestion along flat road is already an issue at Melbourne St lights. The increase in trucks will make this worse and ultimately cause driver frustration, accidents, injuries and potentially fatalities.

2. Noise:

Bolwarra community pride our rural lifestyle, its peaceful and a beautiful aspect. The increase of trucks will without a doubt bring noise disturbance which impacts all residents in the vicinity, their wellbeing, their home values, their livelihood.

I propose that either the expansion is completely denied or no negotiation conditions are set for alternate methods of transport such as rail. Rail transportation is a safer option and will ensure the safety of the wider community and uphold the suburbs appeal, housing value, and rural aspect that residents love. There is no alternate option.

There is no “She’ll be alright”.
There is no “accidents won’t happen”.
There is no “It won’t be that bad”
As residents we say NO! As residents we say that no amount of money in the world is worth risking one injury or fatality! Daracon we say No!

I object to the project because of the impact it will have on our community,roads and well being of living in this area.

I do not support the expansion of the quarry and the adverse effects it will have on the surrounding environment and neighbourhoods.

Daracon has a history of flouting the rules as per the last 5-6 years of operations.
Daracon has no respect for the community, which has been shown in the damage due to the trucks in Paterson town to the buildings and outlying roads.
Their business model is based on maximising profit rather than community value
As Daracons supply network is made up of subcontractors their revenue relies on tonnage and hourly rate which will irresponsible road behaviours through small towns such as Paterson and Vacy.
Recent approval of Brandy Hill quarry is only 20kms away is enough evidence for enough quarry products to supply local businesses in the Newcastle and Hunter area.

As a resident living along the proposed transport route the proposed level of truck movements will negatively impact land values, degrade the existing local roads and pose a risk to the health and well being of residents and wildlife. The current infrastructure simply does not support an increase in heavy vehicle movements

I objected to the 2016 proposal (see Attachments) on the basis of the road transport of quarry products along Tocal Road through Bolwarra Heights. My home is located close to Tocal Road. I again object on these grounds. Although there have been amendments to Daracon's original proposal, the proposed reduction from 1.5 mt over 30 yrs to 1.1 mt over 25 yrs does little to ameliorate the road traffic effects. As a retired Civil Engineer with 40 years experience in pavement construction and maintenance, and mining industry project management, I know that even the best road construction does little to the vibration and noise transmitted by heavy vehicle traffic to adjacent and nearby residences. Also, the Daracon promise to ensure 30 kph truck speeds through residential area is an empty one. Daracon has no means of ensuring this, and could not be trusted to do so. But this is hardly the point - any regular truck movements in excess of 4 per hour impose a debilitating toll on residents, especially when considering the cumulative effect on other background industry heavy traffic.
I have read carefully the 'Review of Quarry Products Distribution by Rail and Rail Logistics Options for Martins Creek Quarry' prepared by Plateway Pty Ltd in May 2021 (Appendix N to Daracon Requested Amended DA_07/09/2020). This Review indicates that rail transport of the entire 1.1 mt would indeed be possible, but that it would require significant investment by Daracon and would be subject to ballast market pressures. Over a 25 yr period these issues would be resolvable. In fact, if the Proposal were to be approved by the NSW Government with no road transport, and for some relaxation in night-time rail loading approval conditions, production could continue to satisfy local market requirements while sites for rail unloading could be further progressed to construction. The desire to satisfy a wider more financially lucrative ballast market at the expense of local Martin's Creek, Patterson and Bolwarra residents is not appreciated, and Daracon should be prepared to invest in the rail infrastructure if it wishes to meet the wider market.

As such, I object the current amended proposal as it stands. I would be prepared to support a further amendment to the proposal which removed all road transportation with minor exceptions such as 4-10 movements per hour in the event of rail infrastructure breakdowns which brought rail transport to a complete stop. Such exceptions should be carefully considered by the approval authority in setting conditions.

John Quinn
BE (Civil), MSc (Eng. Mgmt)
12 Gardenia Close
Bolwarra Heights

I strongly object to the project given the impact it will have on my local area not to mention the value of my property.
I have a significant investment in the area and do no wish to see it impacted any further than it has been by the excessive traffic, noise and pollution.
The increased volume of trucks on our small village roads is excessive. The trucks currently are driving too fast creating a danger when trying to enter and exit my property.
Not to mention when I have to move stock and get a truck in and out of my property safely full of very valuable livestock.
There are already potholes everywhere the road network cannot sustain what they are proposing. I think the impact on the local township is concerning and it will absolutely drive people away from the area which will impact families, businesses and livelihoods. It will ruin the historic township of Paterson.
Most trucks have the dog trailer on the back, it creates a lot of noise, vibration, dust, fumes with their ongoing breaking and bouncing along when empty. It is making our roads unsafe.
I worry about the impact it is having on the Historic Gostwyck Bridge.
It is absolutely destroying our local amenity.
I don’t believe the Quarry is currently compliant as they already start queueing up the road early of a morning. It’s noisey, dirty and dangerous. I don’t believe the road network can sustain the impact of the increased volume. I am concerned about ongoing accidents on the road with speeding heavy trucks.
There is an increase of rubbish already along Dungog and Gresford road - cans, bottles and cigarette packets.
Daracon cannot be trusted they say one thing and do another. No one seems to be monitoring anything out this way.
There is no benefit to the people or township of Paterson, I strongly object to this project, its an absolute disgrace that it has even got to this stage.
The only people benefitting is Daracon. Please relocate this operation somewhere else away from our Historic Community.

The trucks moving through Paterson for the Martins Creek Quarry create a dangerous situation when passing through the village. On numerous occasions we have been witness to near misses where people and vehicles have been put at risk. The roads in and out of Paterson are narrow and have some tight bends that not made for trucks carrying such weights, nor trucks of this size or length.
Safety is paramount for such a small, tight knit community. Too many times I have seen trucks cutting the 90 degree corner near Paterson post office, not adhering to the speed limit, and using compression brakes within the broader Paterson area. For a tourist and school area, this risk increases at certain times of the day and this is not recognised in this submission with the focus on truck movements and tonnes per annum.
We appreciate the jobs that the quarry brings to the community. However, Daracon has been given opportunities to comply previously to agreed plans, without compliance. As a community member, this does not give me much hope that compliance to future plans will be adhered to.

We have been in the Bolwarra area for some 12 years. Over this time, we have seen an increase in truck movements through the area. With that and the new Hunterglen development taking place, the demand on our roads has increased significantly.
We have to exit our street onto Paterson Road everyday which is already becoming difficult due to the amount of traffic on this main road. We also use Flat Road as our main route to get to and from work and adding more trucks along this route is going to make traversing our normal everyday lives not only difficult but also dangerous.
Visibility is already compromised, at times, along this route and adding more trucks is going to make this situation worse.
I understand that businesses need to expand and increase productivity but this expansion will negatively impact a lot of normal everyday people who just want to be able live and travel without the hazards of heavy vehicles using country roads to do their business.
There is a rail line that runs along the proposed area which they could use, but they choose not to. We don’t have any other choices.
The other consideration is we have a public school that exits onto Paterson Road and a lot of primary aged children need to be able to cross this road. Trucks and children don’t mix, especially when you are dealing with young children who don’t always double check and can’t see past large vehicles before crossing safely.
Taking in all of these aspects, I would like to see this proposal declined, along with any further proposals. With the current road structures and the area becoming more developed I feel that the roads are already becoming too congested.
Thank you

I am objecting to the proposal
The project does not consider the local environments and the impact it will have on the quality of life for the local residents
I really object to the expansion of the project due to the number of road truck movements per day per year for the next 25 years
The trucks on Tocal road create a number of issues those being
1) Speed of the trucks- they do not adhere to road limits and at time I feel are very dangerous
2) the number of trucks - at time they make it very difficult to access Tocal road from smaller side roads
3) the quality of the road surface - the trucks constantly undermine the road surface causing potholes
4) the trucks hit local wildlife such as kangaroos and birds
5) the air quality - I moved to the country for clean air and this amount of traffic movements only increases the air pollution in an other wise clean environment
6) the noise of the trucks - they are considerably louder than normal traffic patterns for the area - again impacting the quality of life in this area
7) traffic issues in Patterson - makes life extremely difficult if you want to shop in Patterson due to the number of trucks

The fact that the proposal says the increase should be accepted as this is a decrease from the higher levels of truck movements in 2012- 2015 is not justification for the proposed levels for the next 25 years - this shows a total disrespect for the local community and conditions

People live in this are for the pristine environments and clean healthy lifestyle which will be impacted severely by the proposed increase in truck movements

The views of the local community have to be considered and the proposal just ignores the concerns of the local community

The quarry operated illegally for years with total disregard for anyone the high volume of trucks going through martins creek was unbearable the blasting shakes my house the noise is continuous the dust was terrible there already is another quarry less than 20klm away it was only ever a ballast quarry and the proposed entrance taking another 4 years to complete is ridiculous .I have lived in martins creek for 35years and daracon have destroyed our beautiful way of life I have no faith in them doing the right thing as they have continually lied and done what ever they wanted I object to this

Far too much truck traffic for this heritage area.

I object to this proposal. The local roads are not built to handle the increase in heavy vehicle traffic that this proposal will result in. The roads in the bolwarra heights area (which is on the preferred route) are already overloaded with the massive expansion of housing in the area. The hunterglen/Paterson rd intersection is especially dangerous even without the proposed increase in traffic that would come from this project. I would witness 1 accident a month at this intersection alone. It is also worth noting that the vast majority of the positive submissions do not live in the vicinity of the quarry or live on the proposed truck route and as such will in no way experience any of the traffic,noise,safety etc negative impacts.

Martin's Creek was successfull in carting their product via rail. Now there is to be an enormous amount of trucks through Bolwarra damaging infrastructure and grid locking traffic.
Why? because they think they can get away with not being noticed.
And money. And destroying koala habitats shows no consideration for animal welfare or the population.
Why let Martin's Creek do this, money? You just don't care? It doesn't effect you?
Or it looks good on paper?
Please let me know why destruction is allowed to happen.
Thank you
Terry Holdom

Traffic from the quarry through Patterson was intolerable until restrictions were imposed in 2019. This application suggests a return to well over 100 trucks a day each way through a small historic town and over a one lane bridge.
The quarry was opened because of it's convenient location next to a railway line. That remains the overriding reason for its existence.
Daracon has shown a great preference for road transport over the environmentally far superior option of rail. They have also shown themselves to be very capable of ignoring licencing rules.
Any approval of the application should insist on the vast bulk of transport of product from the quarry to areas outside of the local (largely Dungog Shire) area should be by train. This requirement should be easily enforceable, with substantial penalties for non compliance, and with accurate accounting provided and posted publicly by Daracon at its own expense.