Craig Redman
Object
Craig Redman
Object
Jenny Redman
Object
Jenny Redman
Object
Robert Foot
Object
Robert Foot
Object
East Seaham
,
New South Wales
Message
I wish to lodge my objections to this proposal due to the following factors:
1: Increased traffic on Italia Road which already carries a high number of heavy vehicles from the existing Booral Quarry, Landscaping business and general traffic using this road as a major thoroughfare.
2: The existing poor condition of Italia Road and lack of proper maintenance. This proposal will only further deteriorate the road conditions.
3: More heavy vehicles using the dangerous intersection at the corner of Italia Rd and the Pacific Highway may give rise to serious motor vehicle collisions due to poor vision and lack of a merging lane north bound.
4: Noise concerns of residents close to the proposal interferring with their peaceful enjoyment which every citizen is entitled to.
5:Dust concerns which may interfere with the health of citizens. Drinking water catchment from rooftops may be contaminated.
6:The proximity of Grahamstown Dam is a major concern.
1: Increased traffic on Italia Road which already carries a high number of heavy vehicles from the existing Booral Quarry, Landscaping business and general traffic using this road as a major thoroughfare.
2: The existing poor condition of Italia Road and lack of proper maintenance. This proposal will only further deteriorate the road conditions.
3: More heavy vehicles using the dangerous intersection at the corner of Italia Rd and the Pacific Highway may give rise to serious motor vehicle collisions due to poor vision and lack of a merging lane north bound.
4: Noise concerns of residents close to the proposal interferring with their peaceful enjoyment which every citizen is entitled to.
5:Dust concerns which may interfere with the health of citizens. Drinking water catchment from rooftops may be contaminated.
6:The proximity of Grahamstown Dam is a major concern.
Kevin McDonald
Object
Kevin McDonald
Object
Balickera (East Seaham)
,
New South Wales
Message
Submission to Department of Planning and Environment re State Significant Development Application: Eagleton Quarry. Application No. SSD7332
From Kevin and Edwina McDonald, 379 Italia Road, Balickera (East Seaham) NSW2324
We object to this proposal for the following reasons:
1. There is already a major quarry (Boral) operating in the same vicinity supplying gravel via trucks utilising Italia Road on a daily basis. At times there are trucks travelling either to or from the Pacific Highway via Italia Road almost every minute, obliging local residents to wait at the T-intersection to exit on to the Highway. These fully-laden trucks (mainly travelling southwards) have to cross the 4-lane highway from a stationary position, to access the taper lane before repositioning on the southward bound lanes. We have often witnessed near accidents, particularly for other vehicles wishing to either exit or enter Italia Road. The proposed Eagleton Rock Quarry will place an additional 15,000 trucks per annum on this section of Italia Road, thereby exacerbating an already dangerous situation. This scenario is intolerable for us local residents. The EIS for the Eagleton Quarry argues that Boral Quarry only has another 5 to 10 years of operation, but it is obvious that within that time, the dangerous traffic situation will be greatly exacerbated.
2. Should the proposed Eagleton Quarry be approved, there will be two major rock quarries almost side-by-side operating daily to extract gravel via blasting, rock crushing and gravel export via fully laden B-double trucks for a period of at least five years and very likely ten years. The problems of noise, dust, air and water pollution will be greatly increased. This is intolerable for local residents, who will hear the noise from blasting and rock crushing for hours each day. All residents in this area depend on tank water, and will be faced with dust contamination of their tank water.
3. Our road is already utilised by trucks not only from Boral Quarry but from other local rock quarries, including the Brandy Hill and Martin's Creek quarry. In addition, we have other trucks and semi-trailers carting heavy machinery, timber, milk and cattle along Italia Road, formerly a quiet narrow two-lane rural road and now a major route for truck movements. The additional truck movements predicted for Italia Road from the proposed Eagleton Quarry will obviously greatly exacerbate this intolerable situation.
4. The proposed Eagleton Quarry is obviously located within the catchment of Grahamstown Dam. This dam is one of three major sources of potable water for the populations of Newcastle and the lower Hunter region. There is rainfall run-off from the site of the proposed new quarry towards the Dam. These run-off waters exit mainly via Seven Mile Creek and the Balickera Canal. Seven Mile Creek exits towards Grahamstown Dam via pipes underneath the pacific Highway. In times of high rainfall events, flooding waters cover the last kilometre of Italia Road, making it impossible for local traffic to access the Pacific Highway. These floodwaters also sweep across the area of the property of Michael and Debbie Charlton and then straight into Balickera Canal which exits underneath the Pacific Highway into Campvale Swamp and hence into Grahamstown Dam. The potential for these floodwaters to carry pollutants from the proposed quarry site to Grahamstown Dam is high. The main contaminant will be silt, but there is also the potential for the floodwaters to also carry oils and chemical pollutants from quarrying practices.
5. The construction of the quarry will require the removal of 30 hectares of natural vegetation (dry sclerophyll forest) on a staged basis. This will obviously incur destruction and loss of local biodiversity (plant and animal species), and although the EIS refers to compensatory biodiversity offsets, the fact remains that there will be significant loss of local indigenous flora and fauna. There are other developments in the area also contributing to this loss of biodiversity and the cumulative effect will be one of death by a thousand cuts.
6. Although our residence is about 3 kilometres (in a straight line) from the proposed Eagleton Quarry, we will still hear the noise of blasting and rock crushing operations. We already hear such noise from the existing Boral Quarry. Our concern in this context is more for those residents whose properties are immediately adjacent to the proposed Eagleton Quarry site. These people will be subjected to noise from blasting, rock crushing and movement of heavy machinery on a daily basis. The rural lifestyle of these residents will obviously be adversely affected by the operation of the new quarry, and the re-sale values of their landholdings depreciated.
7. The above concerns are compounded by other developments along Italia Road including the daily truck movements from Gardenland operations (bulk mulch and other supplies), situated along Barleigh Ranch Way, and vehicle movements involved in the existing operations of dirt bike racing at Barleigh Ranch, the Ringwood MG Club and the adjacent high speed car racing facility. These developments also create significant traffic movements along Italia Road.
8. Thus the proposed development of a new and very large rock extraction quarry will exacerbate existing environmental problems of noise, dust, traffic congestion and air and water contamination. Accordingly we strongly object to the proposal to establish an additional rock quarry operation in our neighbourhood.
Kevin and Edwina McDonald
From Kevin and Edwina McDonald, 379 Italia Road, Balickera (East Seaham) NSW2324
We object to this proposal for the following reasons:
1. There is already a major quarry (Boral) operating in the same vicinity supplying gravel via trucks utilising Italia Road on a daily basis. At times there are trucks travelling either to or from the Pacific Highway via Italia Road almost every minute, obliging local residents to wait at the T-intersection to exit on to the Highway. These fully-laden trucks (mainly travelling southwards) have to cross the 4-lane highway from a stationary position, to access the taper lane before repositioning on the southward bound lanes. We have often witnessed near accidents, particularly for other vehicles wishing to either exit or enter Italia Road. The proposed Eagleton Rock Quarry will place an additional 15,000 trucks per annum on this section of Italia Road, thereby exacerbating an already dangerous situation. This scenario is intolerable for us local residents. The EIS for the Eagleton Quarry argues that Boral Quarry only has another 5 to 10 years of operation, but it is obvious that within that time, the dangerous traffic situation will be greatly exacerbated.
2. Should the proposed Eagleton Quarry be approved, there will be two major rock quarries almost side-by-side operating daily to extract gravel via blasting, rock crushing and gravel export via fully laden B-double trucks for a period of at least five years and very likely ten years. The problems of noise, dust, air and water pollution will be greatly increased. This is intolerable for local residents, who will hear the noise from blasting and rock crushing for hours each day. All residents in this area depend on tank water, and will be faced with dust contamination of their tank water.
3. Our road is already utilised by trucks not only from Boral Quarry but from other local rock quarries, including the Brandy Hill and Martin's Creek quarry. In addition, we have other trucks and semi-trailers carting heavy machinery, timber, milk and cattle along Italia Road, formerly a quiet narrow two-lane rural road and now a major route for truck movements. The additional truck movements predicted for Italia Road from the proposed Eagleton Quarry will obviously greatly exacerbate this intolerable situation.
4. The proposed Eagleton Quarry is obviously located within the catchment of Grahamstown Dam. This dam is one of three major sources of potable water for the populations of Newcastle and the lower Hunter region. There is rainfall run-off from the site of the proposed new quarry towards the Dam. These run-off waters exit mainly via Seven Mile Creek and the Balickera Canal. Seven Mile Creek exits towards Grahamstown Dam via pipes underneath the pacific Highway. In times of high rainfall events, flooding waters cover the last kilometre of Italia Road, making it impossible for local traffic to access the Pacific Highway. These floodwaters also sweep across the area of the property of Michael and Debbie Charlton and then straight into Balickera Canal which exits underneath the Pacific Highway into Campvale Swamp and hence into Grahamstown Dam. The potential for these floodwaters to carry pollutants from the proposed quarry site to Grahamstown Dam is high. The main contaminant will be silt, but there is also the potential for the floodwaters to also carry oils and chemical pollutants from quarrying practices.
5. The construction of the quarry will require the removal of 30 hectares of natural vegetation (dry sclerophyll forest) on a staged basis. This will obviously incur destruction and loss of local biodiversity (plant and animal species), and although the EIS refers to compensatory biodiversity offsets, the fact remains that there will be significant loss of local indigenous flora and fauna. There are other developments in the area also contributing to this loss of biodiversity and the cumulative effect will be one of death by a thousand cuts.
6. Although our residence is about 3 kilometres (in a straight line) from the proposed Eagleton Quarry, we will still hear the noise of blasting and rock crushing operations. We already hear such noise from the existing Boral Quarry. Our concern in this context is more for those residents whose properties are immediately adjacent to the proposed Eagleton Quarry site. These people will be subjected to noise from blasting, rock crushing and movement of heavy machinery on a daily basis. The rural lifestyle of these residents will obviously be adversely affected by the operation of the new quarry, and the re-sale values of their landholdings depreciated.
7. The above concerns are compounded by other developments along Italia Road including the daily truck movements from Gardenland operations (bulk mulch and other supplies), situated along Barleigh Ranch Way, and vehicle movements involved in the existing operations of dirt bike racing at Barleigh Ranch, the Ringwood MG Club and the adjacent high speed car racing facility. These developments also create significant traffic movements along Italia Road.
8. Thus the proposed development of a new and very large rock extraction quarry will exacerbate existing environmental problems of noise, dust, traffic congestion and air and water contamination. Accordingly we strongly object to the proposal to establish an additional rock quarry operation in our neighbourhood.
Kevin and Edwina McDonald
PETER KLEEMAN
Object
PETER KLEEMAN
Object
Name Withheld
Comment
Name Withheld
Comment
Woodville
,
New South Wales
Message
The Traffic Impact Assessment at Figure 2-3 shows "Schematic of Italia Road intersection with Pacific Highway." There are differences between that diagram when compared to the photograph on the cover page of the TIA and the intersection shown on Google Earth.
The intersection is a dangerous one, whichever turn out of Italia Road is desired, due to the turning Italia Rd. vehicle's limited sight distance to the south of northbound Highway traffic. The speed of the northbound traffic coupled with the time likely to be taken of laden quarry trucks exiting Italia Rd to execute a turn may lead to undesirable consequences.
The intersection is a dangerous one, whichever turn out of Italia Road is desired, due to the turning Italia Rd. vehicle's limited sight distance to the south of northbound Highway traffic. The speed of the northbound traffic coupled with the time likely to be taken of laden quarry trucks exiting Italia Rd to execute a turn may lead to undesirable consequences.