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Quite a lot has happened since our last post in July last year. Bullet points follow:

• Hanson adopted the 2020 IPC consent in late July 2024, so responsibility for compliance has transferred from Port Stephens Council to the NSW Department of Planning.
  The IPC consent is available here:
  brandy-hill-quarry-expansion-development-consent.pdf
  
  Key points with the paragraph references (eg A7) are:
  
• The new consent spans 30 years to July 2050 (A7). If the quarry then wanted to continue operations beyond that, a new DA and consent would be required. The point is that the consent limit does not categorically limit the life of the quarry’s operations.
• The permitted hours of operation remain largely the same as previously thanks to community opposition to 24/7. The permitted operating hours for various activities are detailed in the consent (A12-A13).
• Transport routes are now clearly defined in Appendix 8. Richardson Road is now the route to/from the Pacific highway, not Adelaide street to the Masonite roundabout, and the route to/from Maitland is now via Flat Road and Melbourne Street and not via the Lorn bridge.
  An additional requirement (B41 & B42) is that trucks must not use the haulage routes or arrive at the quarry prior to 6:00am.
• New extraction areas and depths now apply.
  
  • Up to 20,000 tonnes of concrete waste can be received and processed per year (A10).The new annual extraction limit of 1.5mtpa won’t apply until the pathway and bus bays are fully completed (A7). Until then, the previous 700,000tpa limit applies. The quarry may also produce up to 15,000 cubic metres of pre-mixed concrete per year (A12). (Management advise that they have no schedule for constructing an onsite concrete batching plant.)
• Hanson has been re-branded to Heidelberg Materials, with light-green livery on any new trucks.
• The bus stopping bays on Brandy Hill drive and one at Sophia Jane drive have been completed.
• The shared pathway is progressing with most of the eastern section now useable. Handrails have been installed along the sections with steep embankments. The council budget includes almost a kilometre of railing for the project.
  It is great to see so many people already enjoying this evolving community asset. Everyone is appreciative of the support of all the landowners whose properties are affected by the construction.
  While it is sad to see the removal of the she-oaks along the western section, we concede that the trees and roots would be incompatible with pathway.
  
• At the June 2024 Community Consultative Committee (CCC) meeting, the quarry’s community contribution scheme was outlined. It is also available below. The Scope section says: “Support shall be prioritised to initiates where the benefit will be specifically and directly received in the local community.
  Support shall be directed towards an organisation or individuals who are based in townships and villages local to the Brandy Hill Quarry, nominally centred on Seaham, and in the area bordered by Raymond Terrace, Clarence Town & Woodville.
  Total targeted annual support should be of a value of $0.01 per tonne sold (1.5M tonnes will generate $15,000 annual support).”
  
  Community organisations and individuals are encouraged to contact the quarry manager with suggestions on how the fund might be used.
  
• The quarry has provided a new and simpler method of lodging complaints after prompting from the CCC.
  brandyhillcomplaints@heidelbergmaterials.com
  Please use this email address to report any breaches of the consent conditions or the Drivers Code Of Conduct (See attached). eg: unsafe driving, unacceptable engine noise or squealing brakes, trucks not using the designated haul routes (flood road closures excepted), spilling gravel onto roads and dust pollution.
  
  Complaint emails should include as much information as possible about the incident including:
  Date, time and location.
  Description of truck/trailer (attaching a photo or video is an easy alternative).
  The direction travel, and
  Your name and contact details (These are strictly confidential for any feedback)Description of the complaint.
  
  Please submit complaints ASAP after the incident so that the quarry can invoke the Drivers Code of Conduct at the next available opportunity.
  
  Living on Brandy Hill Drive and being CCC members, we have lodged many complaints to quarry management about noisy trucks. When applicable, the Drivers Code of Conduct process has clearly been used to change behaviours. For repeated infringements, drivers have been banned from the quarry. So this system really does work.
  
  The truck involved in an accident where the trailer overturned just east of the Hinton Road intersection, was reported for speeding and unsafe driving only the day before, giving scant time for the quarry to invoke the code. If everyone stands up for safety and amenity by reporting incidents and anti-social behaviour, accidents like this and potentially worse, will be minimised.
  Note that any unduly noisy trucks can and should also be reported to the EPA, and any unsafe driving to the police.
  
• Only one CCC meeting has been held since our last post. The minutes for the 16^th October meeting are attached.  CCC attendees agreed that 6-monthy meetings seemed appropriate now that the new consent has been adopted. The minutes mention tree planting, current projects being serviced and that the 10 trucks currently parked at the site overnight will get an additional 8 trucks from Carrington as well. The 8 trucks from Carrington currently do daily runs from the quarry so the additional trucks will not increase truck movements.
  
• The next CCC meeting is planned for 28th May.
  
• That is all for now. Hopefully you are all safe and dry after the recent deluge and floods.
  We hope to have another post later this year to announce the official opening of the shared pathway, with some appropriate celebrations.

On Tuesday 13th December, item 13 on the Port Stephens Council agenda had councillors debate a petition that was signed by over 500 local people. The petition opposed council’s plan to have two road crossings in the pathway design with the pathway starting from Seaham Road on the south side of BHD, crossing to the other side near Werai Cl then back again north of Tandara Rd. ie the petition supported the pathway remaining on the western side for the full length of BHD.

The council agenda included the recommendation that the petition be rejected and to continue designing the pathway with the two crossings.

Therese, who did all the hard work arranging the petition, was unfortunately unable to attend to speak to council during the public access session. However, Neil Ritchie did speak in support of the pathway petition. Many questions were then asked of Neil and council staff.

Once the formal meeting started, our west ward councillor Giacomo Arnott, successfully moved that item 13 be brought forward so those of us in the audience could hear the debate and then leave. The outcome was unanimously in favour of supporting the petition and to build the pathway on only one side of BHD!

So many thanks to Therese for conducting the petition and everyone that signed it, to Neil for speaking to PSC, to our west ward councillors for supporting us in the debate, and to council for their unanimous vote.

Here are the two most relevant pages from the draft council minutes. A link to the full minutes follows.

Here is the link to the minutes. Select “DRAFT 13 December 2022 – Ordinary Council Minutes – Pages 1-307” and go to Page No 245. (At some point the final minutes will be posted, but the page number may change). Note that the “Background” section relates to the recommendation to reject the petition.

So while there is still much to do regarding planning of the pathway and an acceptable Voluntary Planning Agreement to be negotiated between Hanson and PSC, that is good news leading up to Christmas. Hopefully they pathway will be able to progress early next year.