The Land and Environment Court has dismissed an appeal to expand a controversial hard rock quarry in the New South Wales Hunter Valley which residents hope will be the end of a decade-long fight.
In 2022 resources company Daracon lodged plans to expand the Martins Creek Quarry, north-west of Newcastle, to allow it to extract more than a million tonnes of rock materials, like gravel, each year.
It was expected the expansion would generate up to 160 truck movements a day through several Hunter Valley towns, including the historic Paterson village and Bolwarra.
In February 2023, the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) refused the expansion finding it would have “unreasonable” and “unacceptable” impacts for communities on the haulage route.
Resources company Daracon runs the Martins Creek Quarry, inland of Newcastle. (ABC Newcastle: Bridget Murphy)
Daracon appealed the decision, arguing it would benefit the workforce and provide materials for local infrastructure projects in the construction and roads industries, but that appeal was knocked back again by the Land and Environment Court on Wednesday.
In the court’s judgement, Commissioner Peter Walsh and Acting Commissioner Michael Young said negative consequences of the project outweighed the positives.
“The beneficial impacts of the [application] relate principally to the supply of the quarry’s product for the construction sector and particularly for infrastructure projects of public significance,” the commissioners said.
“The negative consequences are particularly in relation to adverse traffic and pedestrian safety implications, and social and amenity-related impacts in the local area.
“In all of the circumstances the balancing of public interests … of this proposal indicates to us that the proposal should be refused.”
Dashcam footage of trucks seen driving through Paterson. (Supplied: Martins Creek Quarry Action Group)
Decade-long fight
The Martins Creek Quarry Action Group have lobbied against the expansion of the quarry for more than a decade.
Its president, Luke Barker, told ABC Newcastle Drive the majority of the community would be “in high spirits” hearing the news.
“It’s news that we all wanted, it’s common sense,” he said.
Luke Barker said the majority of the community would be “in high spirits” after the decision. (Supplied: Luke Barker)
He said the main reason many in the community had been against expanding the quarry was due to safety concerns and the impact on small roads in the area.
“It’s fantastic that the commissioner has seen what that impact has been and what that impact would be for not only this current generation of people but the generations to come,” Mr Barker said.
“There’s people moving through the township all the time, crossing roads between the post office, the chemist, the local eateries, the pubs, supermarket.
Paterson is a small village inland of Newcastle. (ABC Newcastle: Bridget Murphy)
“Then we have a very high tourism aspect. It’s a great stopover spot for people coming through.
“It’s just the impacts on the community were just too much to bear.”
He said the group was not against the quarry remaining operational into the future at its current size and scope.
Quarry future
In a statement a Daracon spokesperson told the ABC the company was disappointed by the IPC’s decision.
“For more than a decade Daracon has led a rigorous process of environmental studies and stakeholder engagement which has seen the application amended a multitude of times to create compromises, resulting in a recommendation for approval by the then-NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure in 2022,” the spokesperson said.
“It is disappointing that today’s decision does not uphold that.
“The decision of the Land and Environment Court, while not the one we have been working towards, does provide closure for this application.”
The spokesperson said the company was disappointed it would not be able to supply construction materials from the site to local infrastructure projects.
“We will now take time to assess the future of the quarry,” the spokesperson said.
