We would like to submit objection to the application from Ashton Coal?s extraction of 20 million tonnes of ROM coal from a new open cut pit 3km south of the existing North Pit at a rate of up to 3.6Mtpa over 7 years and construction of associated surface infrastructure. Assessment Type: Part3A - Application Number: 08_0182. We believe the mining lease should not be granted due to the follow reasons:

? Proximity to Camberwell village. - We feel that the combined effects of dust, noise and vibration would have adverse effects of the village of Camberwell as a whole. The village now experiences high levels of the three mentioned.
? Property acquisition process. ? A mining lease should not be granted until affected properties are acquired. Under the current process mines are required to buy at not less than market value this should be re-worded buy at not less than replacement value to take into account that Camberwell village is now completely surrounded by mining activities. The offer made by Ashton Mining has so far failed to acknowledge the principal of replacement value. As we are mortgage free replacement value should be considered as we have not made a choice to relocate. Market value will not compensate us enough to find a comparable property within the Singleton Shire council boundaries.
? Property within exploration licence boundaries - Properties located within the exploration boundaries should be subject to compulsory acquisition at no less than replacement value.
. Lifestyle and loss of amenity ? To grant this mining licence would greatly affect our lifestyle. We are able to witness great wildlife that have moved to the area such as birds of different species, echidnas and platypus. Our access to Glennies Creek allows for us to have an orchard and vegetable garden with good water supply. Singleton being a notable dry area, small acreage with sufficient water are very hard to find. Camberwell is well suited to our needs as we all commute to work at Muswellbrook, Scone and Mt Thorley and to have to re-locate further away to acquire a similar property would make our commute more expensive and time consuming. This has been our family home for 20 years and it saddens us that this may soon be a distant memory. Our son came home from hospital at birth 18 years ago and knows no other home. We truly love our home and were misled when Ashton Coal were granted their first mining lease as we were lead to believe that it would only continue as a open cut operation for the duration of 7 years. This enabled us if we wished to continue in our homes as normal knowing that they would then only have an underground which may not have affected us as much as this new proposed mining lease. We have established gardens and trees some as old as 50 years. To find a replacement property with trees of this age is almost impossible. Camberwell offered a tranquil living environment prior to the granting of mining leases now our tranquil living has been replaced with visual imperfections.
? Dust. ? In the Environmental Assessment Ashton Coal have already identified our property as being adversely affected by dust. To allow this lease to go ahead would mean further impactions making it impossible to live in Camberwell.
? Noise. - Again this property has been identified as being affected by noise.
? Vibration. ? We feel that being situated on the boundaries of this new lease we will be exposed to excessive vibration.
? Cumulative impacts on Camberwell village. ? Cumulative impacts by Ashton and the surrounding mines will have adverse affects on the whole village.
? Visual. ? Our views will be greatly affected by the environmental bund being placed on our boundaries stopping view to neighbouring properties.
? Social. - Ashton Coal claim in the Environmental assessment that they are doing great service to the community offering low rentals. Perhaps it should be noted that we as residents have no idea who they are renting to so our sense of community has deteriorated therefore having to increase security, live with rubbish generated by the tenants and when these houses owned by Ashton are not occupied lawns and the general up- keep of these properties fall into general disarray.
? Working Hours. ? Having to live in such close proximity of the mine that will be operation 24 hours of the day will make living unbearable.
? Effect on Glennies Creek. ? Glennies Creek is a very valuable water source providing both water to Camberwell residents as well as being a supplier to the Hunter River. Over the years of mining activity in our region the quality of water has deteriorated. We have lived in this residence for 20 years and when we first moved here we had crystal clear waterways being able to see schools of fish and other marine life. Now we only see dirty water. Mining close to the river could have great implications for both Camberwell and those irrigators down the Hunter River.
? Conclusion. - We strongly object to this project going ahead and hope that you will give consideration to the points that we have addressed.



Name: Robert & Cindy Bailey

Address:
44 Glennie Street
Camberwell Via Singleton 2330


IP Address: cpe-121-216-222-181.lnse3.ken.bigpond.net.au - 121.216.222.181

Submission for Job: #2922 Open Cut Project + Modification 5
https://majorprojects.onhiive.com/index.pl?action=view_job&id=2922

Site: #35 Ashton Mine
https://majorprojects.onhiive.com/index.pl?action=view_site&id=35

Please find attached our support letter for the above application 08_0182


Name: Gerald Tinney
Organisation: Coalroc Contractors Pty Limited

Address:
41 Michelmore Street, Paget, QLD 4740


IP Address: oriono102.lnk.telstra.net - 165.228.177.19

Submission for Job: #2922 Open Cut Project + Modification 5
https://majorprojects.onhiive.com/index.pl?action=view_job&id=2922

Site: #35 Ashton Mine
https://majorprojects.onhiive.com/index.pl?action=view_site&id=35

As indicted i live in Portland with my family and my property backs onto the rail line some 400 to 500 metres south of the level rail crossing in East Portland. We have lived here for about 7 years and in that time i have heard many coal trains both loaded and unloaded pass by. As such i have noted that south bound trains when loaded are on occasions very noisy as the driver drives the battery charging motors hard right up through the East Portland crossing and on past my place. Conversely i have heard many other loaded coal trains pass by with relativity minor noise levels with the driver backing off the motors, which pays great dividends in the quiet enjoyment of life. I would submit that the training and skills of the train drivers in this regard could have a great impact on addressing this concern.

The other issue i want to raise is the dangers posed with greater train movements across the level crossings at Portland/Cullen Bullen Road, East Portland and Pipers Flat Road at Wallerawang. As would be expected greater train movements would mean more frequent road closures, which while may be an added inconvenience to regular road users posses a significant concern to emergency services vehicles servicing the communities of Capertee, Cullen Bullen, Portland, Wallerawang and Lidsdale. Of particular concern is the Pipers Flat road level crossing, where on occasion the trains have actually come to a stop and have remained stationary for several minutes. This level crossing impacts on the main route used from Lithgow to Portland with ambulances often making these emergency runs to assist an elderly population in Portland. Whilst there are three alternate routes to get to Portland once you have committed to a particular route the time taken to get to an alternate route may be the difference of providing emergency help or not.

I would greatly appreciate these issues being given due consideration as the project moves forward.

Please don't hesitate to contact me, should you need any further information.

see attached

We understand that submissions will soon be under review.

We wish to bring to your attention and hopefully further instil with
the Department of Planning and Environment (DPE) the need for robust
conditions when consenting to the application, in particular relating
to the operation of mechanical equipment overnight. As mentioned in
our submission, we have suffered far too many instances of sleep
deprivation because of overnight noise disturbance (low frequency
noise) from the Barangaroo South site. The noise issue relating to the
operation of the de-watering of the site last year clearly
demonstrates that unless mechanical equipment, which is to operate
overnight are themselves attenuated and attenuated within the areas
they are placed then ours and the community's night time amenity will
be adversely affected.

We recently experienced another night of deprived sleep from what we
believe was a re-emergence of the noise relating to the de-watering
functions on the site. The matter was reported but as is always the
case there has been no timely response. While it appears this may be
an intermittent problem the fact remains that our night time amenity
continues to be threatened by the overnight use of mechanical
equipment.

As the One Sydney Harbour site evolves, unless the DPE imposes robust
conditions covering the need for attenuation of mechanical equipment
(self powered lights, pumps, generators, fans and etc), and
attenuation within the areas placed when operating overnight, then
ours and the community's night time amenity will remain threatened.

We hope our submission and this additional information gives
justification to the Department to ensure consents provide the robust
conditions to ensure the surrounding neighbours night time amenity is
protected.

Unless the Department of Planning and Environment acts to protect
communities night time amenity.. then who will?

We object to this project. Please see PDF attached.

Please. refer to attachment.

Hi. I note that the ARUP traffic estimates (11/07/2018) for the proposed
R5 building are 21 and 14 (am and pm peaks) for 151 dwellings and
increased to 29 and 19 for the amended 210 dwellings. These traffic
estimates would be grossly incorrect fantasies compared to
reality-based traffic numbers experienced from any of the existing
high rise residential buildings in the area. An independent traffic
report is needed to ensure that traffic is correctly estimated and
catered for. Thanks Philip

I don't where to start.

Talk about a lost opportunity. A great city would have had this whole
site, a magnificent park. Horrible ghetto, too high, particularly
unattractive and unimaginative architecture, way too dense.

Just revolting. This government will go down in history as devoid of
taste, style and good planning. Thank god for Clover - so that some of
our city is left to be beautiful.