Port Stephens Council’s (PSC) online information and consultation meeting was held last Tuesday, with a number of residents participating. These were the points that I noted:

• The project is still in the concept phase.
• Consultation has occurred with the bus companies, regarding the best locations for the bus stop bays. The proposed locations were not clearly shown on the map provided.
• The bus stops that were mentioned along Brandy Hill Drive (BHD) included ones at the intersections with Warrigal, Werai and Tandara. Only 1 bus stop was discussed along Seaham Road, which was at Sophia Jane Drive.
• Each bus stop will have bays on both sides of the road. ie for buses travelling in both directions.
• PSC identified two pathway route options.
  Option 1 is their preferred route, which has the pathway in the section between Werai Close (#56 BHD) and #84 BHD on the eastern side of BHD, with the remainder on the south-western side. Option 2 has the pathway all on the south-western side of BHD.
• Under option 1, the road crossings would NOT be zebra pedestrian crossings. They would have pedestrian refuges at each side, but pedestrians must give way to traffic at that type of crossing.
• Both options require power poles to be moved, necessitating brief power outages. Fewer outages would be needed for option 1.
• Both options are likely to require some land acquisitions. ie need to move front boundaries/fences back a short distance. Potentially affected land owners have been consulted.
• Where acquisitions are required, landowners will be compensated based on valuations, and fences replaced at PSC expense on a like for like basis.
• Where the pathway crosses driveways, these too will be repaired/replaced on a like for like basis. The pathway construction will be consistent with the traffic load at each point. i.e. more robust where vehicle traffic is involved such as on access roads and crossing driveways.
• Information about the pathway is provided at:
  https://www.portstephens.nsw.gov.au/live/resident-services/capital-works/2021-2022/brandy-hill-drive,-brandy-hill
  That page has a link to a basic map and concept plan for the pathway. portstephens.mysocialpinpoint.com.au/brandy-hill-shared-path/map#/
• Questions and feedback can be posted onto the above map, as follows:
  Click and drag one of the icons for Thumbs-up, Ideas or Comments to the applicable map location.
  Fill in the details, tick agree to terms, and click “Add Comment”.
  You will receive an email confirmation of your entry.
• Please pass this onto your friends, neighbours along BHD and other stakeholders, to encourage them to provide feedback to PSC via the map.
• Further consultation, design and costing will be undertaken to eventually produce a detailed plan.

Hanson continues to prepare their management plans that require approval before they can apply to adopt the new consent. Once the new consent is adopted, quarry output cannot exceed the previous limit of 700,000 tonnes per year, until the pathway and bus bays are completed.

That’s all for now.