Martins Creek Quarry Project

My husband and myself are the owners of Paterson Service Station. We have been in business serving our community since 1988. Between 2014 - 2018 we employed 4 staff we now have 7 staff plus 2 juniors. We strongly contest the proposed expansion of Martins Creek Quarry reasons being
1 - 240 truck movements a day will destroy our rural peaceful historic town.
2- increased noise,dust and vibration.
3 - Several years ago when the trucks were moving through town it was a nightmare just crossing the road. Trucks would pass through in a convoy it was dangerous especially for all of our elderly residents and children. Standing on the footpath waiting for trucks to pass was perilous.
4- Loss of business due to difficulty just to enter and exist exsisting businesses loss of jobs.
5- Destruction of our beautilful historic Goswick bridge that was built in 1887. This is a one way bridge with a blind corner.
6- When the railway crossing boom gates close you will get trucks backing up to a blind corner which already experiences several accidents a year.
7- I was a wildlife carer for 15 years and I have seen Koalas in our village 2 in the last 6months 1 being in a locals backyard and 1 in Tucker Park. Loss of habbit.
8- We have a church on the road that will be affected it holds many funerals people always spill out onto the grass areas outside with the noise of the trucks this will be unacceptable.
9- We have a tight dangerous corner in town 5 days a week the school bus stops to pick up children for high schools in Maitland. Trucks passing will cause increased danger for children also parents picking up and dropping of .
10- The other alternate road would be along Paterson Road, Martins Creek. This is also totally unacceptable as I have rescued many injured wildlife from this road and more importantly small children from kindy to year 6 stand on the side of that road to catch the school bus morning and afternoon with many of the driveways concealed.

We are not just a service station selling fuel we are a cafe doing take-aways as well as sit in meals. Many locals and tourists come to enjoy the company of each other while enjoying the beautiful view of our valley.
We are a close knit community each business works well together whether it is for our locals or anybody visting our town. We care for each other our concerns are genuine whether it be the extra noise, dust, vibration, traffic even mental health of everyone.
We believe that the only alternative is by rail however we do disagree with the increase of 1.1million tonnes per annum. Even though it would be going by rail the increase will cause greater issues for people living around that area and that is not fair.
Just with closing with the whole world experiencing Covid has it not taught us to be caring for our loved ones, community and enviroment.

The project has adversely affected road safety and environmental (dust and noise) and damage to roads (potholes). It will get even worse under the proposal to increase the output. Enough is enough!

ENVIRONMENT
Destruction of existing forest area and general destruction of existing vegetation along proposed primary haul route from dust and diesel fuel
NOISE
Obvious noise generated by large truck movements
ROAD SAFETY
We have grave concerns of the potential road safety issues with these large trucks on our narrow country roads generally and specifically in our situation right turn into our street "WESLEY" Bolwarra Heights from Tocal Road thre is no inside access for trucks to pass we are like sitting ducks waiting to turn into our street especially as we have our young grandchildren (3yrs and 6yrs) with us on 4 days per week.
ROAD CONGESTION
Addition of large number of trucks to existing congestion at intersection of Flat Road / Melbourne Street East Maitland and Melbourne Street and New England HIghway particularly right turn from New England Highway into Melbourne Street East Maitland
ROAD DAMAGE
Damage to our local roads by these large trucks Who will do the repairs and
who will pay for the future road damage
LIFESTYLE
We are a retired couple who take great joy in our garden which will no longer be a happy place with noice / pollution of these large trucks. Also we take pleasure in a drive between our home in Bolwarra Heights andthe towns of Paterson and Dungog where we frequent local cafes and shops with these huge truck movements we will no longer be doing this
Ian and Jenny Carey
5 Wesley Street
BOLWARRA HEIGHTS 2320

I object to the expansion of the Daracon quarry expansion at Martins Creek.
I live in the Hunterglen estate off Paterson Road in Bolwarra Heights. There are two exits to get out of the estate - Maitland Vale Road onto Tocal Road which then goes onto Paterson Road - or up Hunterglen Drive onto Paterson Road. The majority of residents tend to use the Hunterglen Drive exit and during peak times it can be an absolute nightmare trying to get out onto Paterson Road. This includes parents taking children to nearby schools including Bolwarra Public School and Grossman High, St Peters High School and Maitland Grammar School. Residents who are also trying to get out to go to work are also impacted.
With an estimated extra 280-plus trucks on the road due to the expansion, it will be nigh impossible to get out onto these main roads from either of these exits (Hunterglen Drive and Maitland Vale Road) safely and in a reasonable time frame.
And for children who walk to school from near the service station on the other side of the road - how are they going to cross the road as there is no pedestrian crossing at all from the service station down to Bolwarra Public School? Even the footpath from the service station is on the Hunterglen Estate side so again, they can't safely cross the road to utilise this path.
The trucks coming from the recently approved Brandy Hill quarry, will be converging at the service station from the other road so the 280-plus dual-trailer truck movements in this area will be substantially more.
IF the Daracon quarry expansion is to proceed then a set of traffic lights needs to installed at the Hunterglen and Paterson Road intersection to make it safer for both pedestrians and drivers exiting the estate.
I believe that if the quarry expansion is to proceed then there should be certain restrictions on Daracon in substantially limiting the number of truck movements and utilising the rail corridor. They should be putting their money into trains and upgrading the railway line to transport the gravel etc by rail as is done by the coal industry from the Upper Hunter.
The roads from the Martins Creek Quarry are NOT made for trucks, and especially the anticipated 28- plus they are talking about, they are residential roads. House prices, particularly those who live along the route, will be affected. Our roads will need increased maintenance so our rates will go up and our quality of life dramatically reduced. Who wants to live on a haulage route?
I hope this submission will be taken into consideration.

I live on the main road through Paterson and do not wish to experience the expected increase in truck movements outside my home if the Quarry is converted from its current small sized quarry providing railway ballast to the proposed mega sized quarry. When the Quarry was previously carrying out unlawful operations, the empty trucks rattling past my home on their way to the quarry to start their work for the day would wake me from 5.45am. When the truck movements were unlawfully at their peak they were constantly rumbling past my house fully laden and this noise and vibration definitely impacts the peaceful lifestyle expected when living in this village community . As a driver it was difficult to enter the main road in my car because of the all the trucks on the road, and as a pedestrian it was a challenge to safely cross the road. I drive to Maitland and back 3 times a week and it was frightening to travel in between 2 large trucks, the one in front would often have loose ballast falling out of the top so I would not want to drive too close to it, and the truck behind would be trying to hurry me up. The Quarry has been here longer than I have, and I appreciate the value of the ballast being removed, however I object to the expansion of the operations. I do not wish the village to have to put up with such an increase in truck movements and I do not support the clearing of native vegetation for additional extraction.

I believe that this project will have an unacceptable adverse impact on the amenity of the residents near the quarry and also of those living along the roads that the trucks will travel along and their environs. These changes will affect residents in nearby areas, including those in all villages and suburbs along the proposed trucking route. I object to the project.

I strongly object to the proposal. I work in Paterson and live in Bolwarra and so am doubly effected. Since the trucks were stopped from running a few years back Paterson Village has returned to a pleasant, historic village. I regularly use the butcher, grocer, chemist, cafe, service station and post office. When trucks were running through the village I chose not to do this because it was both dangerous and unpleasant and if the proposal were to go ahead I would use the village far less and head to Maitland. It's historic centre and park draw significant numbers of tourists mid week and their numbers would certainly dwindle. It has been good to regularly go to town through the day and see groups of motorcyclists at the cafe and picnickers in the park. The proposed number of trucks would again I feel certain drive these mid week visitors away hurting local businesses and for those who recognise the centre of the village as the heart of the community the effects would be devastating. Children and the elderly have to cross the already busy road without a pedestrian crossing and with limited visibility because of the sharp bend in the village centre. This is difficult enough without having to deal with a hugely increased amount of big, noisy trucks. I can't see how it is acceptable. Along with Wollombi it is probably the best preserved of the lower Hunter historic villages and it should be kept for citizens to enjoy it as such not as the gateway to a huge quarry. This proposal is very different to the recently approved Brandy Hill quarry in that there is a long trip through the very centre of a community on narrow roads that are unsuitable for that purpose and Martin's Creek has a railway to its door. Brandy Hill does not.
I live in Bolwarra, not far off an already very busy Paterson Rd that will now have an additional hundred trucks a day running through from Brandy Hill. It is already difficult to turn out of Maitland Rd or indeed any of the roads that join Paterson Road between the top of the hill and the round about and waiting for a break in the traffic to turn into your street with a procession of loaded trucks baring down the hill behind you is an anxious wait indeed. Does this proposal even take into account the extra trucks that will run from Brandy Hill on that route? The accumulative effect will be massively significant and there is a school just off the route and a preschool on it. When the trucks were previously running at these elevated level I was woken up early every morning despite keeping my windows closed and living 200 metres off the route and even when the court ruled they couldn't proceed through Paterson until 7 am they still came through Bolwarra much earlier to gain a place in the queue so the limits on operating hours don't translate into those hours when you live on the route. I have lived through this before and can't see how anyone can see it as reasonable to inflict this on others

There is no mention of the residents of Horns Crossing Road Vacy, whether it be blasting, air borne dust or traffic.
We live at 52, which is about 1000 metres from the proposed closest blast.
During the time when the quarry was operating, prior to its closure, we had experienced our house shaking on several occasions. On phoning the quarry, it was confirmed that blasting had just occurred on each occasion. We are of the opinion that the proposed closer blasting positions can only make the situation worse. Our property has several areas of exposed rock plus rock had to be excavated when our pool was built. We read in a report on complaints from residents of View Street that this was not the same rock strata as the quarry and therefore the blast would not travel through the rock. Could this be geologically confirmed? We also have cracks in our bricks and cornices.
Dust deposits in our house have noticeably decreased since the quarry closure.
I have to drive to Maitland at least five times per week and am not looking forward to sharing the road with the proposed 280 trucks per day.
We also have fears for our grandchildren who commute to and from school in Vacy and Maitland and have to cross roads in these areas.
In our opinion the roads in Vacy and Paterson are not designed to carry such large trucks on a regular basis, ruining the road surfaces. The truck noise also disturbs the peacefulness of our area.

I visit the Paterson area regularly. It's a beautiful historic town - one of the best preserved in the area. My partner and I plan to get married by the Paterson river next April.

When Daracon previously operated at proposed levels the town was not a nice place to go for a brief trip, let alone live in.

I am concerned about endangered Koala and native Quoll habitats, the trucks releasing carcinogenic silica dust and other chemicals into the air as well as so many trucks destroying roads and valuable infrastructure.

The safety of the community is at risk, and future of local businesses which have already been damaged by bushfires, floods and now COVID are all jeopardised.

It would be a terrible waste to let this happen to a historic region.

The approval of this Project will have a detrimental impact on the surrounding communities.
I support the existence of the quarry as it is currently operating, but not the proposed expansion.
The proposed amendments to traffic flow and removal of parking within the township of Paterson in particular where there is already limited availability is an absolute disgrace and a complete disregard to the community.
In addition, the increase in rail movements past the local school and the impact on the children's health has not been taken into account. Simply water suppressing the ballast material prior to leaving the site will not mitigate the health risks once the the carriage arrives and passes the school in Paterson or through the village of Paterson.

On behalf of Johnson Property Group (JPG), we extend our organisations support of this Amended Development Application for the Martins Creek Quarry Extension.
Our support is based on, but not limited to, the following reasons;
- JPG has indirectly sort high quality quarry products from this quarry for many years to enable construction of our many residential subdivision projects across the Hunter Region. The availability of such quality product, locally, provides for local contractor employment and competition in the market place, particularly for local developments like land subdivision and road infrastructure that drives a substantial portion of our economy.
- Further operation and availability of this quarry creates a huge amount of benefit to the broad communities, businesses and employment opportunities within the Hunter Region for many years to come.
- Aside from the above noted benefits, we acknowledge the applicant’s efforts in amending the proposal in their consideration of local community issues.
Regards
Bryan Garland

I am a keen cyclist and motorcyclist and often ride to the Paterson, Dungog, Gresford, Vacy & Martins Creek areas. I have encountered quarry haul truck/dog vehicles on numerous occasions & have felt quite threatened a few times while riding near Paterson & Martins Creek. If the expansion does not include widening of all roads used by the project applicant to include at least 2 metres of bicycle lane in each direction for the complete length of haulage to Flat Road then I can not support the project.
I object to the obvious air quality deterioration caused by so many extra large diesel vehicles on the roads I ride, plus the carcenogenic silica dust that will be a product of such haulage.
I have also witnessed near misses by current haul trucks with local traffic in the heart of Paterson.
I have no understanding why the applicant has an objection to full rail haulage.
I have no understanding of the process for recovery of road damage funding from the applicant to NSW Main Roads or Local Area Councils.

This project MUST NOT go ahead due to:
- Endangered species - Eastern Quolls seen in this area
- Size of village - two small to handle 280 trucks a day
- No one will be safe when trying to cross Paterson Road or King St in the shopping area with 40 trucks an hour going through our narrow streets
- Daracon has been in breach twice???? They will do it again.
- ALL trucks use DIESEL - more health problems for us
- The mineral resource mined - ballast etc is carcinogenic - regardless of being covered, the fine dust will seep from the trucks into our lungs
- Diesel poisoning from the amount of trucks going through town - more poison!!!
- Trucks go through major shopping area and do not adhere to the speed limit
- Trucks have already damaged cars through stone chips - no compensation from Daracon!!!
- Bus drop off point for kids in the shopping area - they don't look when they run across the road - they are kids!
- Some will be killed by this amount of traffic.
- So much noise from the trucks running 6am to 6pm 5 x days a week
- All parking is to be stripped away!!! Offering a tiny piece of sloping land in King street for parking - what a joke! Our town is very busy now without the trucks due to housing developments in Vacy and surrounding areas.
- All businesses in town will suffer if not close.
- The peace and tranquillity of the town will be ruined - Peace and the village is the reason we all live here.
- Two historical buildings on the turning corner of the proposed haulage route (Post Office and CBC Bed and Breakfast) will be damaged due to mortar, hand-made bricks from convict labour - our history.
- All workers will have to add a further hour a day on to their travel time due to trucks queueing down Flat Road / Melbourne St traffic intersection and other routes they CHOOSE to take - cause there will be NO control.

Hello,
I am currently an employee of Daracon Group and am in support of the proposal for the quarry.
This quarry would assist in the creation of additional employment opportunities and produce much needed additional material for major and minor projects.

Last year (2020) various operating quarries within the area reached extraction limits and further material could not be produced locally for projects. This created a strain for various contractors and bodies in the local communities for the completion of on-time and on-budget projects. These extraction limits were reached before any major expenditure by government bodies for projects and was primarily used on various major infrastructure for mines. With additional expenditure going into the future for projects by government bodies and various entities there will be a net shortage of material available for construction. An additional quarry producing a high quality material would provide much needed resources to further develop NSW and local communities.

Many Thanks,

I will outline my objections from the position of a worried citizen and Heritage home owner on Paterson Road, Bolwarra the main road where the greatest affect will occur in more ways than one. I am sure other residents and concerned citizens have covered other relevant and vital concerns.
We have a children's nursery (Mother Goose) across the road, and I can honestly say the signs are not being obeyed and never have, drivers turn right into that centre all the time, despite the sign, the traffic builds up until it's clear to turn in the children's preschool which makes vision for drivers, coming from the direction of Lorn, impossible. Vehicles of workers park outside our house and line up outside number 10 causing a bottleneck when drivers attempt to turn into the centre. ( and Tilley's further up Paterson Road near the round about on Paterson Road is another pre school, Lorn Infants school, Bolwarra Primary; there is just the safety of too many children to be considered before adding dangerous trucks to our already overloaded roads) My son has been re-ended turning into our home and our neighbours tell of near misses all the time.
So why put trucks in the mix of local traffic and an already busy road at peak times.
Every time trucks drive past our home, which not an unusual occurrence, but the vibrations of these large trucks cause the windows of our house reverberate, shaking the walls (I can show you the many cracks as proof). Our house, "Balmoral" was built in 1896 and is Heritage listed - we cannot afford building repairs.
We are shocked this matter is even being considered again. I accept and understand people have to work and make a living, but not at the expense of rate paying residents who are trying to maintain our homes, keep our streets and children safe. Kids are riding their bikes to school every day along this part of Paterson Road, school buses park outside our house and the Mother Goose Nursery.
Allowing the proposal for more trucks is simply adding to an already inadequate road that doesn't accommodate the increasing traffic now from new developments in this area.
The Maitland Council needs to be forward thinking about this, our roads, residents, citizens etc. More traffic will impact the road, repairs eminent and then traffic jams while road works are undertaken. Think and plan.
P.S. the amount of trucks passing since I've started typing this is already way too many.
Please consider us and our , your, beautiful Maitland.
Regards
Bryan, Sue, Jacob and Laura ARBLASTER

My driveway is around a bend at the bottom of a hill on Tocal Road at Mindaribba, the trucks going to and from Martins Creek Quarry endanger me when turning into my driveway. An expansion of the project and more trucks on Tocal Road will increase the danger to me and others using our driveway. So far I have had a large number of trucks pass me on the left side of the road as I wait to turn right into my driveway. Sometimes my car shakes and I feel incredibly anxious about being hit. In addition to this we enjoy to ride our push bikes along Tocal Road and into Paterson. This is becoming dangerous because of the trucks to the quarry. I don't understand why the existing railway can not be utilised for this project. In conclusion the hazards include road danger, truck speed, noise and congestion and I oppose to the project expansion

I have a number of issues to raise as follows
1. The current volume consent seems to require a weekly explosion at the quarry. This already causes severe shaking and vibration in my house and I have wall cracks to prove it. The new consent indicates that there would nearly be a daily charge required or perhaps even bigger charges on a less frequent basis. The value and and condition of my property is already suffering at the current levels.
2. I understand that a new quarry link road would be built across the railway line to Dungog Rd. This would create an access road on a high speed section of the road and in an area of poor visibility. A fully laden quarry truck will present a significant traffic issue as it pulls slowly away from this intersection. I am also intrigued as to how this option involving bridge building is more economical to the applicant than extending the rail access capability.
3. The proposal requests a level of road transport volume that cannot be sustained by the local road system. Dungog council with it's lack of state funding is not able to maintain the existing roads in adequate condition nevermind accomodate this significantly increased volume and payload. Potholes and collapsed verges are already significant causers of damage to local vehicles. Please do not make a difficult task even worse.
4. The lack of a sensible rail strategy on this proposal is perhaps completely indicative of the applicants disregard for the local community. Putting aside the ridiculous 400% increase in volume requested, the capability of using an existing method of transport exists. Instead we get excuses and extreme road proposals. Any consent granted ought to be contingent on using a significant percentage of rail transport and this number should apply from day 1 and 50% is not acceptable.
5. Dungog council ( perhaps not the state government) have previous experience in dealing with this applicant on the previous quarry consent. Consistent volume infringements over the 25 year time period, multiple court appearances and subsequent guilty verdicts. The local population have absolutely no faith in this applicant abiding by any consents given, volumes extracted or methods of transport used. Given the previous track record I have two queries for the state government.
a) Are you sure you want to trust this applicant with this project? Do you not have a more reliable alternative operator?
b) What INDEPENDENT measures are you going to put in place if you award consent to this applicant that are legally enforcable and can be speedily implemented? Audits? Spot Checks? Compliance? These are all questions that a responsible overseer should be considering when presented with an applicant with this track record. Otherwise you are just giving an arsenal of ammunition to your political opponents as this will come back to bite you.
6. Please consider if all else fails, a staged consent with volumes going upwards dependant on independant verification of the promised parameters being upheld. Please, please however take due account of the impact of this application on the local community.

To whom it may concern, I have lived at "Valentia Lodge" 166 Gresford Road, (the haul route) for over 30 years and have experienced the increasing truck numbers, during the years 1993 to around 2003 when the quarry was operating to the legal capacity, truck movements were acceptable, then the volume started increasing and becoming a lot more problematic. We have always sat on the front verandah with family and friends but the increasing truck noise made conversation difficult, and the road really started deteriorating (Gresford Rd is a country road, basically maintained by Dungog Council) and this exacerbated the noise situation, especially the empty aluminium truck bodies banging over every pothole and bump. When Daracon took over in 2013 the situation really became extreme, we knew when it was 5.50 am in the morning as we could here the convoy coming through Paterson village and the convoy would go all day non stop. Sitting outside was no longer an enjoyable part of country living. During this period the Paterson village lost it's feel of a quiet, charming country village where you could enjoy a coffee out the front of the cafe or have a sidewalk chat. The noise and constant flow of heavy trucks negotiating this narrow country roadway down the hill to the rail crossing, around the sharp Post Office corner, down past the shops, through the dog leg and down past the park then up the hill past the residences drowned out everything and also made crossing the road hazardous. Paterson village is definitely not a suitable heavy vehicle haulage road and I cannot understand why rail is not the primary mover of the quarry product. Since Daracon was forced to stop the illegal operation of the quarry and the subsequent reduction in truck numbers, the village atmosphere has become so much more relaxed and inviting, and our front verandah is back in use. My belief is that if Daracon get the go ahead we will be back to the bad old days and worse, as I feel once Daracon gets the go ahead the amendments will start to emerge and the rail transport will somehow become less feasible, so more trucks will be required, more output from the quarry will be justified and on it goes. I have absolutely no trust in Daracon based on their actions over the past years and I know they have no consideration for our community whatsoever, as the owner of Daracon told us at the community meeting in 2016 "if you don't like it (the constant trucks) move somewhere else". I will finish by asking "when is enough, enough ". Thank you for taking the time to read my submission, Mal Henry.

My name is Janine Budden i am submitting this submission on behalf of Jill & Terry copeland as they do not have a computer to do it, there is an attachment i am submitting for them . [ my boyfriend is Craig Copeland son of Terry Copeland ]
Terry & Jill Copeland of Birdsview 221 Merchants Rd Martins Creek 2420

Th proposed project expansion is highly problematic, it will lead to countless more hectares of destroyed land and long lasting environmental, economic and social impacts.
Clearing more trees and other vegetation has proven detrimental impacts on the land including subsidence, decreasing biodiversity and substantial impacts on wildlife.
Coal and mining dust arises from all quarry sites and then further during transport, these heavy mineral dusts have unprecedented impacts on the health of individuals and will be exacerbated by the expansion.
I have grown up in the area and have driven along the roads near the quarry and the surrounding areas for years which are already poor quality and would further deteriorate with extra truck use. The future costs of repairing or rerouting these roads specifically so they can be demolished by more coal and quarry trucks is self defeating and takes infrastructure money away from where it is needed in the community such as other roads in the Martin's Creek and Patterson areas.
The potential jobs and income from the quarry expansion cannot even come close to outweighing the cost that would befall the local area and it's people. This proposal cannot be allowed to go ahead and would cause too much irreversible damage to the environment and the people who live off the land here. Too many lives, livelihoods and families are going to be adversely affected, this project should not be approved for expansion.