Martins Creek Quarry Project

I reside in Station Street and have for 18 years, we have property that shares a boundary with the quarry. We are heavily impacted by trains and trucks when they're operating, the blasting, dust and noise.
When the quarry trains are being loaded, the trains remain with engine running and stay for hours, this is very noisy. The trains also block access to Corey St where residents and thru traffic are required to wait for 20 minutes at times for the train to move.
Also, when the quarry has been operating previously it is very difficult to get out of the driveway safetly, often requiring to wait for long periods when the trucks are all heading up to the quarry first thing of a morning.
Due to the severity of the blasting, many cracks have occurred in the walls of our house as the entire house shakes each time blasting occurs.
The intersection of Station Street & Grace Ave is all torn up and unsafe to drive on. The council does not have the money to repair so should be Daracons responsibility to maintain the roads they are using, without the trucks the roads wouldn't be in such a bad condition.
Since the closure of the quarry, the village of Martins Creek has been much more pleasant to reside in, the kids are able to ride their bikes in the quiet street without the risk of being hit by a truck.

My family recently moved to Paterson at the end of 2020. We moved here to enjoy the rural lifestyle, native wildlife and the serenity. After hearing about the quarry expansion proposal I believe that my quality of life will be impacted.
Firstly my younger sister catches the bus to school, the bus stops are unmarked and I would be extremely worried about her with trucks driving right by her and her friends.
Secondly I am extremely worried about the impacts on the air quality with the sediment leaving the trucks, they are only briefly watered down and on a hot summers day in Paterson that won't be good enough to stop the dust. My grandpa died from lung cancer caused by asbestos and my uncle suffers from silicosis, I do not want this/something similar for the rest of my family
Thirdly I'm significantly worried about the impact on the local koala population, especially after the recent bushfires.
Moreover, after hearing about the awful downfall of the beautiful village of Jerrys Plains, I am greatly worried about the future of beautiful Paterson, with trucks passing through on residential roads destroying the quality of social life in the historic village.
Please, do not allow this quarry to be expanded.

We purchased a small acre property in Duns Creek in 1990 and have lived on Tocal Road for the past four years. On occasions I have witnessed truck & dogs trying to manoeuvre the tight country roads off Paterson Road, up Duns Creek Road and onto Butterwick Road. I have had to stop my car and wait for these huge trucks to move back onto their side of the road as the roads are not wide enough for them to turn and stay on the correct side of the road. I've also been walking my dogs and have had to leap into the long grass as trucks have careered around the corner. Our roads aren't built for semi-trailers. I enjoy riding my push bike into Paterson but the whizzing of trucks travelling at 100klm is terrifying. We have no footpaths or cycle ways, why should we put our lives in danger for the sake of the quarry extension? I regularly visit Paterson to shop, and meeting a truck & dog trying to turn past the Post Office is absolutely frightening. Not to mention the noise of these and the damage to the roads. I feel sorry for the people living with this as they rumble past. I have lived in the area for 31 years, my children went to Paterson Public School, this little country town is not the place for Daracon to increase the quarry and put lives at risk. We don't want more truck movements, or the danger they bring, or the noise pollution, or the health risks, or the damage to fauna and flora. I SAY NO.

My family and I have lived on Gresford Rd Paterson for the past 26yrs we have seen in the past massive truck movements past our property, having been once forced off the road by a very large speeding quarry truck.
My concern now is traffic has now doubled if not tripled along this road just with cars light trucks and caravans . To add all of this , these extra truck movements can only spell disaster to the township of Paterson and all the road users along this strip of road. Another concern is the blatant disregard Daracon has had in the past to the epa and Dungog council regarding truck movements, the amount of product shipped out of the quarry , noise and dust that has affected so many residence. “ ie , I attended a meeting at Paterson Hall where David the owner of the quarry told us to move on if we weren’t happy with what is going on “.
I am not opposed to the quarry but to any extra trucks that are on our dilapidated Dungog Shire roads. Friday to Sunday our roads are full of caravans and SUV’s , 90% of them with bikes on the back heading to Dungog. I fear for the safety of all road users, from Maitland to Dungog.

What is the control measures being put into place to prevent road damages ?
Are we going to repair them once a hazard presents itself ?
What are the noise/dust control measures being put in place ?
What wild life protection had been put in place ?
My questions are endless and sadly i know the answers of them all and am not content with the effort made by our goverment and duracon for the locals.
I have just spent every dollar i havr on my property . I have been diagnosed with narcolepsy and other medical conditions. This is my retirement, unfortunately i dont have the luxury to retire at a greater age with my severe narcolepsy. Living next to a major project like this is not what i want for my life with a government who simply does not care about peoples safety. The roads are extremely unsafe . Lets repair our roads and make them loadbearing , eliminate the hazard prior to being presented . Then maybe consider an expansion , as of now. Its a NO

We have lived in the area for 3 years. During peak periods of the quarry operation, truck movements along Paterson Road caused damage to our vehicles from speeding trucks through new resurfaced roads. We have observed illegal truck movements down Martins Creek Rd where weight limits are 12t. I have personally observed contractor truck drivers on mobile phones whilst driving through Paterson town. During heavy blasting, the dust generated has often made it over our property and has settled in the pool, which was directly attributed to chronic asthma my wife was suffering. The road infrastructure from the quarry to the arterial roads is not designed for heavy truck movements, and the impacts on the roads, including residential areas, has a high risk of causing accidents which may result in death. There is also grave concerns that property prices will be affected by the proposed operations of the quarry. With consideration to numerous quarries in the area, including Brandy Hill, Annandale etc, the requirements for this quarry to supply civil construction materials is not necessary, as it can be sources from surrounding quarries with far superior infrastructure access, and less impact on historical communities. It must be noted that Daracon have a long history of flouting rules and restrictions placed on their operations. This flagrant disregard to the community and the affected stakeholders clearly show that Daracon have no interest in working together.
Daracon have had no consideration with the community and affected residents during the course of their tenure of the quarry, and will continue to flout rules and requirements to suit they budgets and fulfilment of product demand rather than consider the greater community in their daily operations.
With the amount of product being transported by road, it is a matter of time before an incident occurs in the populated areas of Paterson or Vacy, and their surrounding suburbs if the proposal is approved in its current state. All road transport are subcontractors to Daracon or local business, who are paid on tonnage and hourly rate. With this taken into consideration, it is in the best interest of the drivers to drive as quickly and cart as much product as they can per day to maximise profits.
Further to the above, the quarry at Brandy Hill has now been approved, which can also service the requirements of the local community and subsequent businesses requiring quarry product.

To Whom It May Concern,

I wish to object in the strongest possible terms to the proposed expansion of Martins Creek quarry.
I work in the village of Paterson and can remember the terrible congestion, dust and safety issues that occurred when Daracon were operating illegally between 2012 and 2019.
My experience of up to 60 truck movements a day was incredible noise and dust where I work at the Paterson Service Station. The congestion through Paterson village was so bad that when trucks were trying to pass each other at the intersection of King Street and Duke Street, cars parked outside the Post Office were hit. The trucks that come from the quarry are not required to have covers on their loads, and are constantly dropping stones. I myself have had so many broken windscreens – plural – that I have given up having them repaired because I know there will be another repair within a few months. This constant expenditure on the part of residents and visitors to Paterson are never borne by Daracon, and the company seems to have no interest in addressing the problems of uncovered loads due to “expense”.
As an employee of a small business in Paterson, and a resident of the local area, I have experienced the complete disregard this company has shown over the years to any conditions imposed on its operation. The company has seen fit to spend millions of dollars on defending the indefensible – even up to the Supreme Court – and yet Daracon will not properly engage with the residents, nor properly address their concerns. There are so many world-class “gold standard” quarries in operation within NSW that residents’ concerns could be addressed, and yet Daracon seems bent on expansion at the lowest possible cost and with no regard for the residents along the haul roads.
I would like to be kept up to date with the results of this application.

Submission: Martins Creek Quarry Project

I’m writing to express my opposition to Daracon’s AMENDED STATE SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION SSD-6612
I live on Tocal Rd, Bolwarra Heights and I’m one of many residents directly affected by Martin’s Creek Quarry operations. The road I live on is now proposed to become the Primary Haul Route.
What Daracon is proposing in its amended application has not addressed the issues previously raised; the proposed quarry expansion is still not compatible with the location of the quarry and its close proximity to historical villages and townships and recreational and tourist activities associated with these semi-rural settlements. It’s in a striking contrast to community expectations and its right to peaceful life, uninterrupted sleep, safety on the roads and clean air and water.

As a resident living on the main haulage route I had lived experience of Daracon’s unlawful operations for many years till the court order put stop to them.

I’m very concerned about the following issues:

Noise

Noise from trucks travelling on Tocal Rd starts about 6 am, often earlier. The empty-bodied rattling trucks travelling on a country road are extremally noisy. The full trucks are not much better. We had all our windows replaced to double-glazed, but it didn’t help. The noise is relentless. It would be impossible to open windows, work in the garden or do any outdoor activity when 40 trucks drive in front of the house per hour in addition to all the regular daily traffic. This has had extremely negative impact on our quality of life and wellbeing.

Traffic and Road Safety

The current traffic level on Tocal, and especially Paterson and Flat Rd is already proving to be challenging, and in many instances unsafe. The trucks often travel in convoys, they are frequently speeding and tailgating, making a turn into our driveway a life hazard. We were nearly killed once by a speeding truck swaying to the wrong side of Tocal Rd; there are many “near-misses” to report. Daracon claims that its drivers adhere to the speed limit, but the fact is that only small percentage of trucks is Daracon-owned and the vast majority of quarry trucks are operated by external transport companies subcontracted by Daracon on an “as needs” basis. Daracon management has no control over those drivers. We see trucks in front of our house clearly exceeding 60 km/h limit on daily basis, especially early in the morning. Tocal and Paterson Rd are used as school bus routes and speeding dusty trucks should not drive in such close proximity to children. The roads are also used by walkers, joggers and cyclists, all of them feeling unsafe by the truck movements. The traffic on Flat Rd in the morning when entering Melbourne Street in East Maitland is horrendous already, I can’t imagine adding 280 truck movements to it. The cumulative effect of the quarry trucks from Brandy Hill joining the truck traffic at the intersection of Tocal and Paterson roads is simply unimaginable.

Road Quality

Although the work completed by Maitland City Council on Tocal Road in Bolwarra Heights had initially improved the road surface, it has taken only few months before the road started deteriorating again due to the volume of truck movements. The road has been already patched once and is in a need of repair again. Although Daracon’s trucks are the major cause of Tocal Rd deterioration, as far as I know Daracon never contributed to any repairs. It is the Maitland City Council’s residents who are left with the bill. It is unfair that our rates are going towards subsidising Daracon’s operations instead of projects benefiting local community.

Dust and exposure to diesel exhaust fumes

Houses on Tocal Rd, including ours, are very close to the haulage route and exposed to high volume of dust and diesel engine exhaust emissions from truck movements.

As diesel emissions contain many carcinogenic substances and are known to increase the risk of lung cancer. Similarly, exposure to silica dust can lead to the development of lung cancer, silicosis, kidney disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Having 40 dusty diesel trucks per hour travelling in such close proximity to us poses a serious health hazard.

Environment

As a person who cares about environment I was extremely concerned to learn that Daracon wants to clear 21 ha of native vegetation and make profit at the cost of threatened, endangered and critically endangered species. In my view destruction of such unique habitat cannot be justified by a project that is overwhelmingly opposed by the community, has zero positive impact on community and seems to be solely about economic benefit of a small group of individuals.
The quarry operations pose a big risk to water quality from erosion and sedimentation. Buttai Gravel Pty Ltd (part of Daracon group) was already fined four times by EPA for breaching the conditions of its Environment Protection Licence for Martins Creek Quarry in relation to poor sediment and controls at the quarry.

Rural amenity and social impact

The expansion of the quarry from 1991 rules of operation to a mega quarry is not compatible with its location. The 1991 consent providing for limited extraction and moving material primarily by rail made coexistence of the quarry and nearby communities possible. Any increase in the extraction or modes of transport will destroy the rural amenity of the area and have extremally negative social impact. Blasting, relentless industrial noise, vibration, fumes, dust and hundreds of heavy vehicles on country roads that were never built to sustain such traffic cannot be reconciled with historical character of Paterson, Bolwarra, East Maitland , their scenic drives, heritage sites and lifestyle we all moved here for.

Tourism

Paterson, Martins Creek, Bolwarra, Bolwarra Heights, East Maitland and Lorn are all small settlements frequented by tourists and cyclists. They are not only significant in their own right, but are also on the route to Barrington Tops. Their reputation as places of safe recreation is at risk to be further ruined by noise, dust and truck movements associated with the quarry. Having the proposed truck movement would prohibit safe cycling, enjoyment of historical villages, recreation in nearby parks and cafes; it would subsequently lead to big financial loses for those in tourism industry.

Devaluation of property prices

We are very concerned about our property value dropping due to quarry extension. So far Bolwarra Heights and surrounds has been considered a sought after, leafy, semi-rural area. What Daracon is proposing would change our suburb into an industrial corridor, where nobody would want to live.

Cumulative impacts of Martins Creek Quarry and Brandy Hill Quarry

Cumulative impact of already approved Brandy Hill quarry and Martins creek quarry on Bolwarra and adjacent suburbs would be devastating.



Company’s Conduct

Daracon does not have social licence and public trust. It has operated illegally for years with an absolute and brazen disregard for the communities it affected.

The huge attendance and level of passion with which many local community members spoke at the recent meeting in Paterson 25/6/21 and all previous meetings was indicative of community attitude towards Daracon and the frustration of having to live with the negative impacts of their daily operations.

The executive director David Mingay showed nothing but contempt for the community, even stating in one of the meetings that if it was him being affected by the quarry he would move. Although this is not about personalities, Mingay’s attitude is indicative of Daracon’s corporate culture with its huge sense of entitlement and lack of social conscience.



Conclusion

Expansion of Martin’s Creek quarry would have enormous detrimental impact on lives of thousands of people living close to the quarry and along the haulage route. The economic benefits, including potential jobs, would be limited to a very small group of people.

The revised application is no way conducive to a liveable and sustainable future for our regional communities.

As negative social and environmental impacts outweigh disproportionally any possible benefits , I urge the NSW Planning Department to reject Daracon’s application for the expansion of the quarry.

I OBJECT TO THE EXPANSION.
We (our family) will be directly affected in the following ways.
- Reduction in social and community amenity.
- Reduction in property value.
- Road safety (We have two young children who cross that road daily).
- Infrastructure deterioration.
- Loss of amenity in activity centers.
- Early morning impact due to sleep disturbance from truck noise.
- Truck diesel fumes.
- Silica dust.
- Loss of residential scenic amenity.
- Impacts to historical buildings.
- Impacts to pedestrian and cyclist road safety.
- Impact on native habitat.

The proposed route is in no way suitable for the amount of proposed truck movements, it barely copes now.
For anyone to suggest otherwise would have ulterior motives.
I HAVE NOT MADE A REPORTABLE POLITICAL DONATION.

I OBJECT TO THE EXPANSION.
We (our family) will be directly affected in the following ways.
- Reduction in social and community amenity.
- Reduction in property value.
- Road safety (We have two young children who cross that road daily).
- Infrastructure deterioration.
- Loss of amenity in activity centers.
- Early morning impact due to sleep disturbance from truck noise.
- Truck diesel fumes.
- Silica dust.
- Loss of residential scenic amenity.
- Impacts to historical buildings.
- Impacts to pedestrian and cyclist road safety.
- Impact on native habitat.

The proposed route is in no way suitable for the amount of proposed truck movements, it barely copes now.
For anyone to suggest otherwise would have ulterior motives.
I HAVE NOT MADE A REPORTABLE POLITICAL DONATION.

I am strongly objecting to the Quarry expansion as having previous experience of difficulty crossing the road with children due to the number of trucks going to and from the quarry. The constant road noise, the vibration of my home each time a truck passes by severely detracts from this small country towns lifestyle.

My name is John Whittaker and I reside at 3 Wesley Street Bolwarra Heights. After reading the amended proposal for the Martins Creek Quarry, I believe it to be completely unacceptable. Any company that believes that the number of proposed truck movements through Martins Creek, Historic Paterson, Bolwarra Heights, Bolwarra and other residential areas have a total disregard and contempt for the residence of these areas. The danger to the residence trying to access their properties and the school students attending Bolwarra Public School, is blatantly obvious. Try getting out of your driveway with an eighteen wheel truck passing every 90 seconds. The noise and diesel pollution that these trucks will be producing, will have a detrimental effect on the value of the homes. As residence had already acknowledge the dust and grime covering their houses from Daracon's previously quarry operation. After all these trucks have travelled through the residential areas every 90 seconds they will all congregate at the bottle neck of Melbourne Street traffic lights. At the school and work peak times of between 8am- 9am these trucks will cause utter chaos. The spin doctors of Daracon namely (Umwelt) obviously haven't considered these consequences. Part of their duty when putting together this proposal was to consult with the affected residents, I certainly was not consulted and I am unaware of anyone else who was. It is obvious that Daracon's objective is to keep going until approval is granted, even after losing a number of court cases and I'm sure millions of dollars in legal fees. Their total disregard for affected residences is beyond belief. I urge you to carefully consider this proposal and hopefully come to the conclusion that if it was approved it would be catastrophic for the above mentioned residential areas and its residences.

Dear Sir or Madam

I realise this is a Dungog Council area, however, it has implications for the citizens of Bolwarra and East Maitland.

I don't oppose the quarry in principle; however, the community and the environment must be considered FIRST.

I live in Bolwarra Heights, and would like to oppose the expansion to Martins Creek Quarry for the reasons listed below:

1 - Quarry needs to be held more accountable for the rehabilitation of the site. Once a stage is completed it needs to be rehabilitated there and then move onto the next phase. Too many mines and quarries leave it to when they close and they on-sell the problem to someone else. They need to have funds for the rehabilitation put aside in a bond with a separate body. The funds in trust needs to be the future value of the rehabilitation, not what it costs now, otherwise even with some inflation it's not going to be enough.

2 - The trees that they use MUST be established trees. Not saplings. In Japan trees are required to be relocated, not turned into wood chips. The quarry should be required to do this. It should be required to replant 21ha of trees BEFORE they remove the existing plants, and like for like.

3 - Why do they propose to use TRUCKS? There is a train line that runs right next to it. This is the most efficient and environmentally friendly method of transporting quarry products. 100% of the transport MUST be with trains.

4 - If they must use trucks; they can never be on the road between 7am and 10am and 2:30pm to 6pm. The roads don't cope presently with the present amount of traffic. The traffic along Tocal Road, Paterson Road and Flat Road is already congested and in the next 25 years there will be a lot more houses and therefore a lot more traffic.

5 - Flat Road driving east is banked up at Melbourne Street every morning. East Maitland's section of the New England Highway will not cope with additional trucks. We already wait 4 sets of lights to get onto the highway, this will make it far worse.

7 - We have lived through the constant repairs of Paterson Roads and Belmore Roads, these roads are not designed for heavy trucks. The ground below doesn't cope and then council rips up the roads, the residents patiently wait and drive over dirt for 2 months until the road base is ready to have a hot mix poured on it. The traffic was bad in 2013/14, I can only imagine how much worse it would be now if we had to wait for the road works. And who pays for this? It had better be Daracon. It's their fault, they pay.

6 - The roads entering Paterson Road, e.g. Hunterglen Drive already have 10 to 20 cars deep waiting to get onto Paterson Road, and this estate isn't finished yet. There will be a fatality on Paterson Road. This will be on Daracon's head.

7 - What are the plans for the fauna, the koalas, the echidnas. I don't believe the Biodiversity Plan goes far enough.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

I grew up in Bolwarra, my family’s business is in Paterson, my work is a school in Morpeth. This directly impacts countless people around me both in my personal and professional life.
The Bolwarra/Paterson/Morpeth areas have already endured drought, bushfires, flooding, destruction of our wildlife and more recently, due to COVID-19, small businesses have been affected. This quarry will continue to devastate this beautiful part of Wonnarua country that we are so thankful to be living on.
Our country has already lost billions of native animals in the last 24 months. Please do not contribute to more deaths and destruction.

I object to this project and the impact it will have on the local environment and community.

As a resident in the Hunter Glen Estate it has increasingly got harder to navigate onto the main Paterson Road either way. As a parent this also concerns me as my children will be having to navigate this exit. With an increase of trucks on this road would be near impossible to exit safely. Something has to be done with this intersection if the Quarry is approved as I feel there will be accidents.

See attached

We have lived at 9 Tocal Road Bolwarra Heights for the past 60 years and the proposed number of truck movements (one per every 90 seconds - 40 truck movements per hour for the next 25 years) for the Martin's Creek Quarry expansion will make it impossible for us to enter and exit our property safely. We are elderly residents (over the age of 80) and this will impact on safety, health and wellbeing. This is a residential area and the road is narrow and winding and is not built for truck movements. There will be a significant increase in noise pollution and fumes from the truck exhausts that will impact on our communities health. We would anticipate that if the project was approved then there would significant devaluation of our property.
If the project was to be approved then it should only be approved if all material is transported by rail.

We moved from Sydney for a quieter life, to bring our kids up, with greenery and animals. We travel to Sydney to visit relatives and agree we would never wish to move back to the congestion, traffic and amount number of people. Driving around Maitland area is now becoming unbearable. We call the roundabouts near Maitland hospital, and Maitland park the roundabouts of death. You risk your life every time you go through. The lights at flat/Melbourne St. I got caught behind a truck turning right into Melbourne sf and it was so banked up didn't get through caught in the intersection. That's only going to get worse. Getting out of Hunterglen onto Paterson Rd is a nightmare now, I don't know how we will cope when it gets worse, and it will make it so much worse. We are already talking about moving further out away from this rat race.

As an elderly person living in Hunter glen estate I am strongly opposed to any further development of the martins creek quarry for numerous reasons
First and foremost is safety getting in and out of the estate is almost impossible, children crossing Patterson road is impossible at the best of time ea without a further 240 trucks adding to the already busy road
2. There is a school just off Patterson road Bolwarra primary and no way for
Children or parents to navigate around buses coming to and from the school with a further 240 trucks hurtling down Patterson Road your just waiting for a fatality to happen
3 the town of Patterson is in no way equipped to handle that amount of traffic on the country roads not to mention desimating the country feel of the town
4. You will notice that most of the people who have submitted approval for this to go ahead do not live
In any of the areas affected and are therefore only worried about money isn’t lives far more important their submissions shouldn’t even be considered .
5 Daracon have in the past been acting unlawfully for many years therefore will have no hesitation in doing so again taking shortcuts through areas to avoid congestion.
The mind boggles at the Gov even considering this venture
6. Health issues concerning dust and cancer causing elements far down the track should be enough to force Daracon to upgrade the rail system like other quarries and haul with rail rather than road
Patterson Road, Bolwarra Heights and Belmore Road Lorn will be devastated with a further 240 trucks per day ( along with the already busy quarry already operating in the area) will no longer be a tourist destination for anyone visiting the Hunter or Barrington tops as this is the only route to those destinations