As proposed, the traffic and road implications are significant and show scant regard to the fact that Googong is a rapidly growing township.
As its population grows, so will the number of vehicles traversing Old Cooma Rd, especially to and from the north.
The existing quarry adjacent Old Cooma Rd already causes enough issues with trucks having to cross northbound lanes and entering from the quarry at high speed and showing no regard for other vehicles.
Project proponents, and the QPRC, would do well to heed the lessons from the Greta bus accident in 2023 - regulators, road planners and the designers of that roundabout are now being sued for the contributions their failures made to that accident which claimed many lives. Local authorities may be sued for malfeasance, and they owe a duty of care to residents and road users in their planning decisions.
Unless a more satisfactory arrangement can be made to avoid the 500 per day truck movemts that will be added to traffic on Old Cooma Rd, this project should not be allowed to proceed.

My belief is that the impact of this project will include dust, noise, environmental impacts to protected habitat, risks to Tuggeranong waterways from large on-site fuel and oil storage/ potential runoff and potential impacts to property values.

I write to express my absolute opposition to the Monaro Rock Quarry development. This proposal is being presented as essential to the region’s growth, but the EIS itself shows that even with this quarry operating at full production, further supply sources will still be needed. We should not be sacrificing Royalla’s community character, safety, and liveability just to temporarily plug a supply gap. The cost to our quality of life far outweighs the claimed economic benefit.

The noise, dust, and blasting associated with the quarry will reduce property values and make Royalla a less desirable place to live. The EIS outlines “mitigation measures” like acoustic barriers and dust collectors, but these are bandaid solutions for a project that is fundamentally incompatible with a residential and lifestyle community. No barrier can remove the sense of industrialisation or the daily disruption to peaceful rural life.

The social impacts are significant and enduring. Families move to Royalla for space, clean air, and connection with nature. This project threatens to replace those values with truck traffic, industrial noise, and visual scarring. The EIS anticipates a final landform with a water-filled pit – hardly a safe or attractive legacy for future generations. We are not willing to have our children grow up next to a hole in the ground that symbolises the loss of what made this area special.

Council and State authorities must listen to the people who live here. We are not anti-development, but we are against development that puts private profit over public interest and leaves our children to inherit a degraded environment. There are better ways to meet construction demand without permanently damaging one of the few remaining rural residential areas near Canberra.

31,000 ACT and NSW residents live within five kilometres of the site. 92,000 residents live within ten kilometres.

The nearest Royalla residents are only 1.6km away. ACT residents are only 2.6km away.

Silica dust and noise can travel further than this in all directions. Exposing this to our children and most venerable in the community.

There are three other quarries in the region, and none are operating at full capacity. This quarry is not needed to meet production needs.

This quarry would exist to increase the profits of two families. This will come at the cost of negative impact to many thousands.

As a local homeowner raising two young children, I am deeply alarmed by the Monaro Rock Quarry proposal and call on authorities to refuse approval. The EIS confirms that the project will operate for 30 to 35 years, essentially my children’s entire childhood and young adulthood will be spent living next to an industrial blasting site. This is not an acceptable legacy for any family. The cumulative impacts on air quality, noise, and mental health will shape an entire generation’s experience of growing up in Royalla.

The environmental consequences of this proposal are irreversible. Clearing of 21 hectares of land, the removal of soil, and the construction of a large quarry pit will destroy ecosystems that currently support biodiversity and provide natural buffers for noise and air quality. The EIS acknowledges the presence of Box-Gum Woodland and sensitive species. Offsetting these losses elsewhere does not protect the immediate Royalla environment. My children will not benefit from an offset site kilometres away, they will be breathing the dust and living with the loss of the bushland around our home.

Traffic impacts are also grossly underestimated in the EIS. An extra 200 heavy vehicle trips per day will transform the Monaro Highway into a freight corridor, increasing the risk of serious accidents and putting pressure on already busy intersections. This is particularly concerning for families whose children will one day drive these roads. No level of road widening or intersection redesign can eliminate the risks that come with such high-volume, high-mass vehicle movements through a semi-rural community.

Decision-makers have an obligation to consider the long-term social cost of approving projects like this. Once approved, there is no going back, the community will live with the impacts for decades. This is not compatible with ecologically sustainable development or with a vision of a healthy, connected, and safe future for Royalla families.

I wish to voice my objection to the proposed Monaro Rock Quarry Project. My primary concerns relates to the health impacts of silica dust on myself and my family and the significant increase in heavy vehicle traffic that this project will generate — up to 500 truck movements per day along the Monaro Highway and Old Cooma Road.

1. Health Risks from Silica Dust
I am extremely worried about the impact of airborne silica dust from quarry operations on nearby communities. I live in Banks, my daughter, her partner, and young child live in Tralee, while another daughter and partner live in Googong, all within close proximity of the proposed quarry site.

Silica dust is recognised as a deadly hazard, causing serious long-term respiratory illnesses, silicosis, and even cancer. NSW Health warns that even low levels of exposure can have serious long-term health consequences. The health consequences of exposure are well-documented and cannot be ignored.

My concern is heightened because I and my daughter have autoimmune diseases, which already places us at greater risk of serious complications from environmental pollutants. Exposing us, and my young grandchild, to increased levels of silica dust is not only unsafe but negligent!

2. Road Safety Risks
Such a volume of heavy vehicles presents multiple and unacceptable impacts:
* Both the Monaro Highway and Old Cooma Road are already busy routes, particulary during the snow season. The introduction of up to 500 additional heavy vehicle movements per day will substantially increase the risk of collisions, particularly involving smaller passenger vehicles, school buses, and agricultural traffic.
* This concern is deeply personal for me: my daughter was recently involved in a serious car accident on Old Cooma Road, resulting in her vehicle being written off. Thankfully, she was not badly injured, but the incident highlights how dangerous this road can already be without the addition of hundreds of quarry trucks.
* I personally drive from Banks to Googong for work five days a week, using these same roads. The thought of sharing them with so many additional quarry trucks makes me fearful for my own safety, as well as that of other daily commuters.

3. Traffic Congestion
An additional 500 truck trips will place immense strain on the road network. This will cause significant congestion, especially during peak travel times when commuters, snow traffic, and school transport already compete for limited road space.

4. Infrastructure Strain and Maintenance Costs
Heavy vehicles cause disproportionate wear and tear on roads. The burden of road damage and required upgrades will ultimately fall on local councils and taxpayers, despite the quarry being a private commercial operation.

In light of these concerns — including my family’s direct experience with the dangers of Old Cooma Road, my daily commute on these routes, and my deep worry for my daughter and her young family in Tralee — I believe the Monaro Rock Quarry Project poses unacceptable risks to road safety, public health, and community wellbeing. I strongly urge the responsible authorities to reject this project.

Please see the attached file

I support this proposal as I live in Royalla and currently live unaffected by other similar types of operations, from a needs point of view I believe competition is needed as the current Holcim quarry on old Cooma road is supplying Downer Asphalt plant in Hume with material from its Albion Park quarry which is 220 km away as the Holcim quarry on Old Cooma road is unable to supply inspec quality product this quarry is near the end of its effective life.

This industry is well regulated with the Mines department the EPA and DPHI all more than capable of controlling such a development like this.

I support this project

Personally I have health problems and the added amount of dust, potentially silica dust is concerning. Please find another hill to dig up, somewhere where it not going to have such an impact on us all.