I object to the Quarry proposal on the basis of its location near rural residential areas, and its impact on local traffic. The quarry is in proximity to Royalla, Fernleigh Park and Little Burra where there are many hundreds of small acreages. The noise, dust and visual impact of the quarry will significantly impact these residents. Large trucks going to and from the quarry will also significantly impact the single lane traffic on Old Cooma Road. We heard from the ACT Government that there are no plans to offer access to the Monaro Highway. So the trucks will need to share the road back to Queanbeyan with commuters through Googong, causing major problems. I seek rejection of the proposal or at least a significant review of its social impact.

Concerns after reading the air quality impact report statement. There is exceedances in relation to PM2.5 around winter to surrounding properties, this is indicating a cumulative affect and creates are higher risk to properties based on the cumulative effect from other surrounding quarries and high wind periods. The report outlines meeting short term air quality for PM10 not PM 2.5. Monaro Rock’s proposed dust management assurances and air quality monitoring programs are not clearly defined and are rely on too many factors such as water supply during dry periods, the effectiveness of vegetation wind breaks and limiting vehicle speeds which can be difficult to monitor and manage regularly and during each 24 hour period. The exposure to increased air pollution particularly repairable crystalline silica is a concern to the surrounding residents and NSW EPA do not provide air quality criteria for RCS which makes it difficult for Monaro Rock’s enforcement and management once the quarry is built and adds further risk to surrounding residents.

I am a resident of Banks, ACT and I object to the proposed quarry, asphalt plant, and concrete recycling facility in Royalla.

This development poses serious risks to the health, safety, and environment of residents across Tuggeranong and surrounding regions.

MY OBJECTIONS:

AIR QUALITY & HEALTH RISKS
This project will release ultrafine dust, silica particles, and other known carcinogens. Tuggeranong already faces elevated asthma and respiratory illness rates from winter woodfire smoke and bushfire seasons. Adding quarry emissions will worsen community health, especially for children, the elderly, and vulnerable groups.

WATER SECURITY & GROUNDWATER
Runoff and groundwater disruption from the quarry risk long-term contamination of Canberra’s drinking water catchment. With declining rainfall, lower soil moisture, and increased drought stress, we cannot afford this additional pressure on water security.

TRAFFIC & ROAD SAFETY
The Monaro Highway is already unsafe and congested. Adding high-volume quarry trucks will increase accidents, road wear, and travel delays for residents who rely on this arterial route daily.

ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE & BUSHFIRE RISKS
Clearing bushland and operating heavy industrial machinery will threaten wildlife habitats and increase ignition risks in an already fire-prone area. The ecosystem disruption will be long-lasting and irreversible.

LIMITED COMMUNITY BENEFIT
The proposed 30 jobs and access to additional rock do not justify the massive health, safety, and environmental costs. The primary financial benefit goes to the quarry operators, not to our community.

PROXIMITY TO HOMES & SCHOOLS
The site is less than 6km from Conder, Banks, and Gordon, and under 3km from Theodore. This project directly threatens families, schools, and aged care facilities in the region.

This decision will affect the health, safety, and environment of our community for decades to come.

NSW Major Projects
My submission is provided as a highly concerned resident, loyal community member, a mother and wife that has sought a place to raise a young family and as an advocate for what is not in keeping with any of the above should this quarry be approved in the future.
I have listened, spoken and read much of the documentation and discussion of both sides for both the for and against and I am failing to see why this quarry is in the best interests of any one beyond Monaro Rock.
I do appreciate how they have attempted to engage and aid understanding of such a project however the limitations they have also placed on such a project, namely the considerations for locals in both the short and long term I feel are sadly dismissed only to advance their own affairs.
In an early online engagement where they looked to provide information and reassurance to the project, the members they had presenting quickly came undone even over the simple question of the tree screening associated with the project. To know that mere saplings will “screen” the site is shortsighted for those that will be horribly impacted with these works on what is a largely untouched area of the QPRC district. It is why we love Royalla.
The highly potential affect to our drinking water seems to have been, excuse the pun, largely washed over. Many of the residents rely on tank water. To then have this affected by the known dust stirred through quarry activity will not be mitigated by the quarry developers. Many of us, including myself, have young children with no access to town water supply. Are we for thirty years to install and maintain additional filtration in order to mitigate this increased risk of silica dust in our tanks.
This was countered by the developers in their aim to use the existing water from deep underground. However, again, a finite resource that many of us also rely on to ensure that we can maintain our own properties and mitigate the affects of the warming climate and associated erosion and tree loss. Is this quarry actually believing they are doing more good than harm?
Further, irrespective of those activities that occur on the quarry site, there are the inherent other activities that will occur external to the site, namely the movement of large trucks and other vehicles that the infrastructure in this area is grossly insufficient to support.
The increasing use of the Monaro Highway as other township populations expand and therefore a greater number of transiting workers to the Canberra area is already impacting numbers of vehicles on the Monaro. This is plain to see even in the peak holiday times of the snow and summer. The road at this time is but a patchwork of fixes that come undone in short time due to the large number of vehicle movements.
In addition, one only need to transit the first one kilometre if the south end of Old Cooma Road to see the number of wildlife deaths due to the vehicle movements - and this is but a smaller road. The wildlife hit, injured and killed along the Monaro between the proposed new entrance and to the Lanyon Drive roundabout is also concerning. Adding the potential of 500 more truck movements to this will not only create many more further hazards to road users associated with killed and injured wildlife, it will likely impact the movement of these animals to other areas, creating issues in those areas.
We moved here a number of years ago for the tree change and to raise a young family. This was a wonderful area that had a rich history in the foothill of Mt Rob Roy from where Royalla gets its name. Now, yes, the very sheep station that our community was founded from, we are playing for sheep stations to keep Royalla preserved and protected from quarry activities that are not required, significantly impacting community, and grossly impacting our environment.
I am imploring those that have a say in this, that you do not allow this to occur. Use your funding and research capabilities to support other quarry activities, and importantly, the communities impacted by them, but ask you do not impact us.

The decision to allow a quarry and industrial estate on RU2 and C2 zoned land. As I understand this proposal contravenes the allowances under these zoning categories. Simply allowing this quarry to be established creates a mockery of the zoning process, and the public’s trust in the process.
The proposed quarry would extract up to 1 million tonnes of hard rock annually for 30 years, with the site close to homes in NSW and the ACT and trucks using community roads 13 hours per day, six days per week. This raises serious concerns, and I urge the NSW Planning department oppose this development, which impacts the communities in Royalla, Googong, Jerrabomberra and Burra, and those suburbs in South Canberra.
Traffic
Appendix I Road Transport Assessment of the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) contradicts itself in respect to the number of heavy vehicles moving in and out of the proposed quarry.
In Section 3.6 Transport Limits (P27) it states that the ‘following limits on operational transport activities are proposed: no more than 200 laden trucks would travel to or from the Project Site on any one day’. In Table 4.2: Heavy Vehicle Trip Generation by Activity Type at Maximum Quarry Production (P33), states there will be 200 loads of Quarry product despatch with 400 trips. This is double to what was quoted above and with the additional 310 movements listed in the table – this equates to a maximum of 710 heavy vehicle trips per day, with 355 (half) being fully laden.
These heavy vehicle movements would be added to the Monaro Highway, which currently carries an average volume of 10,000 vehicles per day near Royalla, 20% of which are already heavy vehicles. An additional 710 trucks entering and leaving the Monaro Highway poses a significant risk to commuter safety and will impact travel times. Already there have been a number of fatal accidents in the area that the quarry will impact.
There is simply no safe way to move the material from this site. The science used by the proposer for heavy vehicles to enter onto the Monaro Hwy is dangerously flawed. The study (Appendix A) used to create the statistics used to make the assessments were conducted during the period just before and while Victoria was in Covid-19 lockdown for the 14-day period from Friday 28th May 2021 to Thursday 10th June 2021. This was anything but a normal period of time to be ‘driving on our roads’. The impact of an additional 710 heavy vehicles in ‘today’s’ traffic is a completely different story. My observation of regularly travelling along the Monaro Highway – in particular between the intersection of Royalla Drive and the roundabout on Johnson Drive, is that the traffic load has significantly increased over the past 5 years.
Everyone in our household, including our children, use this stretch of road, our friends and neighbours use this road, children commuting on the school buses use this road. Increasing the risk of accidents including fatal accidents by allowing this volume of heavy vehicles onto this road is highly inappropriate and irresponsible.
Dust
By their own admission, the quarry will extract and crush exactly the kind of hard rock that produces silica dust, described as the ‘asbestos of the 2020s’. There is growing scientific evidence and community concern that this dust has long term health impacts for people and animals. silicosis.org.au, lists quarry and mining workers as being at risk due to the crushing and processing stone in quarries and mines. Monaro Rock plans to control dust using water trucks, but this approach is impractical due to strong regional winds, especially in spring. Dust will likely travel long distances, risking health and contaminating local drinking water tanks.
A lesser issue is the impact of the settling dust in the tanks which use pumps to provide water to the homes in the area. The dust will lessen the life of the water pumps and increase the cost of living in the area.
Ecological and Environmental Concerns
The quarry site is on land zoned as C2 (“Environmental conservation”) and RU2 (“Rural Landscape”). The quarry’s impacts are in direct opposition to the legislated objectives of these zones and are by default prohibited.
The property encompasses 218 hectares of Critically Endangered Box Gum Grassy Woodland, a vital ecological community supporting over 320 native species of flora and fauna. This unique habitat is increasingly rare and plays a crucial role in biodiversity conservation. These woodlands are easy to ‘gloss over’ but with simple research it is easy to identify them as ancient systems shaped over tens of thousands of years by evolving Australian landscapes and the human cultures that have interacted with them. Their existence pre-dates written history, with European settlement since about 1750 significantly reducing their extent and modifying their structure through clearing and grazing, leading to their current critically endangered status. They are part of the Australian landscape that we are hanging onto with our fingertips. Missing out on having these landscapes for our children’s children make me ache with regret – let us not concrete the future – or is Toni Mitchell right that we don't know what we’ve got till it's gone, and we’ll pave paradise and put up a parking lot.
In addition, this property provides a valuable corridor between a number of reserves next door and close by. Including Tuggeranong TSR, Melrose Reserve, Mt Rob Roy Reserve, Royalla Swainsona Reserve, Royalla TSR, Wandiyali and Havelock. The proposal actually suggests (Appendix F - Visual Impact Assessment) that will install a 3m high solid fence. The fence will be a barrier to the fauna moving from environment to environment – blocking the natural ‘roaming’ of our wildlife and to an extent the dispersal of natural flora. This is inconsistent with the environmental values and planning principles that underpin the Queanbeyan-Palerang region.
Economics
There is little economic benefit for the community or Council. As the three other quarries nearby are under-producing, any productivity gain for Monaro Rock would be a similar loss for the existing quarries, resulting in approximately a zero-sum economic benefit.
Other concerns
As a local resident, I want to raise several serious concerns about the Monaro Rocks quarry proposal that I hope the NSW Department of Planning and Environment will take into account:
Water Usage: The quarry plans to extract up to 42.4 million litres of groundwater each year. That’s a huge amount, and I’m deeply worried about the impact this will have on our local water table. It could affect the availability of water for residents like me and damage the surrounding environment.
Water Runoff: There’s a real risk that polluted water from the site could end up in Tuggeranong Creek and eventually flow into Lake Tuggeranong. This isn’t just a local issue - it affects downstream communities and ecosystems too.
Electricity Supply: I’ve lived through the problems caused by the Williamsdale Quarry, where residents experienced brownouts and damage to appliances every time the plant started up in the morning. I’m concerned we’ll face similar issues again, with impacts on our homes and daily lives.
Local Character: Royalla is a peaceful, rural-residential area. A quarry of this scale simply doesn’t belong here. These kinds of operations are usually located in remote areas - not next to family homes and quiet communities.
Alternative Locations: The same hard rock is available elsewhere, from Canberra to Cooma. The only reason to put the quarry here seems to be financial gain for the company, while the rest of us bear the cost - through noise, dust, traffic, and disruption to our way of life.

Submission: Objection to the Proposed Monaro Rock Quarry in Royalla

To Whom It May Concern,
I’m writing as a local resident of Royalla to strongly oppose the proposed Monaro Rock Quarry. I’ve lived here for just shy of a decade, and like many others, I chose this area for its peacefulness, safety, and sense of community. The idea of allowing a massive quarry to be built right next to our properties, which are zoned environmental living, is most distressing.

Too Close to Homes
The proposed site is within 10km of 49,000 people’s homes. It will affect Royalla residents and is also in very close proximity to Canberra and our children’s schools. That’s not just inconvenient, it’s dangerous. Quarries are noisy, dusty, and disruptive. They don’t belong in residential areas where they can significantly impact our wellbeing.

Health Concerns
I’m especially worried about the dust — particularly silica dust. Members of my family already suffer from Asthma and other allergies, before you introduce poisonous dust from the quarry. Even if the levels are technically “within limits,” we all know how unpredictable wind and weather can be. Once that dust is in the air, it’s in our lungs, our gardens, and our kids’ playgrounds. The long-term health risks are real, and I don’t think they’ve been taken seriously enough.

Traffic and Safety
The plan includes up to 200 truck movements a day. That’s a huge increase in heavy vehicle traffic on roads that weren’t built for it. It’s not just about congestion — it’s about safety. More trucks mean more risk, especially for families, our young learner drivers and school buses using the same roads. This affects a vast number of people who use the Monaro highway every day, all the way down to Cooma residents and beyond. The road is already dangerous enough, exacerbated further during ski season and on long weekends, without introducing such a huge number of trucks.

Environmental Impact
Royalla is a peaceful part of the world and we are lucky to be surrounded by bushland including critically endangered Box-Gum Woodland. Turning this land into an industrial site will destroy habitats, change the landscape, and affect local flora and fauna. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. No amount of “rehabilitation” can undo that kind of damage.

We Already Have Quarries Nearby
It’s also worth pointing out that there are already four quarries operating in the surrounding region. These quarries have existing capacity to last over 100 years. We do not need another one on our doorstep.

Community and Property Values
This proposal is already causing stress and anxiety in the community. People are worried about their health, their homes, and their future. Property values will drop, and the appeal of Royalla will diminish, affecting the lovely nature of this community.

To sum up: this quarry is not appropriate. It’s too close, too risky, and too disruptive. The proposal must be rejected to maintain our community and protect our families.

I offer my object to this project for the following reasons:
* I'm concerned about my health from dust which contains silica that will drift over the local area.
* Increased traffic on Old Cooma road. Extra trucks and cars will be traveling down old cooma road and frankly it can barely support the traffic that travels down it now let alone the volume of trucks and cars linked to the quarry. It is already a high accident area and the increased traffic will only add to the incidents of accidents. More heavy vehicles will add to the degradation of the road surface. Eventually the quarry plan to enter directly to the Monaro highway. This also has its own challenges. In winter it is a high fog area with limited visibility.
Please don't approve this project. The site proposed for quarry negatively affects the whole community of Royalla and beyond.

As residents of Royalla, we object to the quarry. We are deeply concerned about the silica dust and the known health impacts of this. In addition, we object to increased trucks on a road that already has significant traffic including accidents. As parents of four - our eldest has only recently got her P’s, and three more to come - we hold huge concern for the safety of new drivers on the roads navigating high numbers of trucks. We urge the government to cease this project.

As a local resident, new to Googong, a neighbouring area to Royalla, I’m deeply opposed and concerned about the impact of this quarry for a variety of very valid reasons.
My major concerns that will directly impact Googong and my family are as follows:

1.) The fact that the quarry will produce an excessive output over many years, it is a given that such a hard rock quarry will create silica dust. More and more evidence is coming to light of the long term health impacts of exposure to silica dust. This will become airborne and carried to Googong which is known to be a windy area. What will be the impact on our health and our children’s health? How will this be measured and mitigated? Googong amenities have been specifically designed to attract families and this quarry is far too close to guarantee the safety of our health.

2.) Long hours of crushing noises could travel to residents and the blasting from the quarry will be felt in homes kilometres away. This will be insufferable. Again how will these vibrations affect our health and wellbeing and what is understood about potential damage such as cracks in walls and windows?

3.) Up to two hundred fully laden trucks per day will be entering onto the Monaro Highway or Old Cooma Road. This is absolutely unacceptable due to the road surface and condition not only being unsuitable, but Old Cooma Rd also being the only exit out of Googong to major towns and Canberra.
There is already enough risk on these roads without more heavy trucks trying to merge onto highways and roads. This large number of trucks will be sure to damage the road and increase our commute times.

4.) House values will decrease if the above outcomes are certain.

5.) Social impacts. We have just moved from Bowral where there is also an SSD in Moss Vale that has caused significant stress over the last few years and is still continuing. The community has been left to defend this project primarily by themselves as council wants to minimise their financial risk. This quarry is also significantly unsuitable for the proposed area in Royalla due to the serious impact on nearby residents.
It is simply NOT THE RIGHT SITE.
This type of social impact cannot be underestimated and will have a sustained negative effect on the region and the tourism sector.

Other concerns that definitely need consideration:
1.) The site is zoned C2 (Environmental Conservation) and RU2 (Rural Landscape). Both prohibit this development, which goes directly against the objectives of the zone.

2.) The quarry will clear 22 hectares of critically endangered box-gum grassy woodland and 78 hectares of vegetation overall. The proposed site is home to over 300 species of flora and fauna.

3.) Quarries require lots of electricity, but no increase in supply is planned. Residents in Royalla already suffer large voltage swings and damage to sensitive pumps and other equipment.

4.) The quarry plans to use groundwater. Residents are concerned that this will impact the water table levels and may cause some bores to run dry.

5.) Waste water from the quarry will discharge into Tuggeranong Creek and then flow though Tuggeranong suburbs to Lake Tuggeranong.

I object to this project as it would be detrimental to the environment, road safety, pollution and the health and welfare of residents surrounding the area that is earmarked for the quarry.

In March 2023 I purchased land in Royalla Reserve. I did my due dilligence and was told that it was unlikely that the proposed quarry would proceed. I was re-entering the property market after losing everything due to a failed marriage and had worked hard to be able to afford to build our dream home on peaceful and tranquil land in Royalla. We have now built a home that is off grid, reliable on our own power, sewerage and water. I have since found out that the Monaro Rock Quarry Project is not only still pushing ahead but they have extended their scope to include more than just being a quarry. The have snuck in all these extra operations.

The impact on my family will be immense as we are one of the closest properties to the proposed quarry. We rely on rain water from our roof and I know our roof will be polluted. I have a hobby farm and the animals will feel the blasts and the vibrations and their drinking water will be contaminated. Our new home will feel the impact also from vibrations and blasts.
The area will be impacted on a biodiversity level with 22.44 hectares of critically endangered box-gum grassy woodland and 77.83 hectares of vegetation overall being cleared. Enchanted Hill will be destroyed along with Indigenous artifacts such as the culturally modified trees and a range of indigenous objects.

I am deeply concerned about the amount of trucks that will go past the back of my property onto the Monaro Highway. It is very hard for us to enter the Monaro Highway from Old Cooma road currently due to the traffic, I cannot imagine how hard it would be to push up to 500 trucks onto the highway each day at the rate that the EIS is suggesting. There will be many accidents and unfortunately fatalities. The highway is not capable of coping with the current traffic so adding in additional trucks would be absolute stupidty. Taking the trucks down Mates Road would also cause immense damage and impact more on the Royalla community. These trucks cannot be dispersed into the area or onto the Monaro Highway, this cannot happen.

The dust will be carried by the wind and this will collect on homes, cars and property. The health risks will be far reaching and while silica is being banned in construction, they are happy to spread the silica from their quarry into our community. This is unacceptable.

The mix of hot mix ashpalt will generate a strong odour that I will have inflicted on us 6 days a week. The quarry is indicating they will operate 6 days a week and this amount of activity, damage, odours, dust etc will impact on myself and my family and animals.

They will be tapping into the ground water and have indicated that they will take 42.4 million litres a year for dust suppresion and production. This will impact not only Royalla but Tuggeranong also. That is a lot of water that could benefit the community.

What will happen during bushfire season? Will we be at more risk due to the potential shortage of water? What will happen to the telecommunications tower that is very close to the site? Will it be another Optus where people are unable to call emergency and potentially pass without help?

They have indicated that they will wash their trucks and equipment onsite and this will cause a pollution risk.

There are four quarries within 30 km of the proposed quarry that have capacity to last over 100 years. Royalla is already impacted by the Williamsdale quarry, why are they building this quarry so close to Royalla, Tuggeranong suburbs and Tralee. It is absolutely ridiculous that they are able to potentially do this considering the risks to health both mentally and physically of so many people that are living in the area that is being flagged for this project. Why on earth would any agree to a Quarry being approved so close to other residences. Why can't this Quarry be built away from residences in an isolated area?

49,000 people live within 10 km of the proposed site which could raise to 69,000 in the next 10 years. Will the State Government or the project insure residents against health risks such as cancer or property damage to the homes in the area. In my estate there will be 14 brand new homes within 2 km of the site. Who will pay for any damage that could occur? Who will pay for mental health from the ongoing trucks and blasts? Who will pay when people get sick due to the quarry operations?

I believe this project is just to benefit a handful of people that don't want to pay the prices the other quarries are proposing. There is no economic benefit to our area. The Williamsdale quarry has already been taken over by a mutli -national company, this project will be in the same position. It has been noted that only around 14 jobs will be provided through the project and this is not a reason to make the quarry a reality.
I have made my dream home in Royalla that has now become evident that it is super close to the proposed quarry. I have 40 animals on my land that will be impacted along with my children. Please do not ruin Enchanted Hill and our lovely peaceful position in the world. It is so unnecessary and so harmful on the residents, wildlife, fauna and Flora. Please do the right thing and not go ahead with this project.