It seems Hanson has curtailed crushing operations outside of the approved hours. That is very welcomed as it has greatly improved the lives of people living in neighbouring properties. Thank you Hanson.

However, Hanson continues to have trucks entering and leaving prior to 6am on most weekday mornings, detracting from the rural amenity along the haul route, and endangering wildlife. Both were reasons the IPC only allowed truck movements after 6am.

The following is the latest reply from PSC on the matter. If you have first hand evidence of unlawful truck movements outside 6am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, please lodge your complaint with PSC.

HAVE YOUR SAY!

The Brandy Hill quarry expansion has been an issue for the community since mid 2013. At that time the main concern for residents centred on 24/7 operations and safety along the road haulage routes. But over the last 7 years other issues have arisen: dust, noise and biodiversity to name but a few. While the IPC determination has addressed some of these issues, biodiversity was left in limbo. The submissions made by VOWW and BHSAG in 2017 were based on information available at the time. Since then far more has come to light.

Information was requested of Hanson which was previously unavailable due to “commercial in confidence “ and our own research has revealed a far greater biodiversity impact than was previously understood on the proposed expansion site. Of particular note, is a report commissioned by Hanson for their EIS, dated February 2019 and sent to Department of Planning and is therefore on public record. Findings in this report brought to life the detrimental impact the clearing of 52 hectares of core koala habitat would have on the local koala population. Changes in federal and state environmental law (spec. koala), drought conditions, increased development and the Black Summer bushfires over recent times has pushed the importance of protecting our local koala population to even greater significance. The information on which the IPC based it’s determination was a 2015 koala survey provided by Hanson. No information was provided nor requested on the CURRENT status. We have a significant local koala population and it is one of the last remaining healthy colonies in the Port Stephens region.

There is now strong evidence that we have breeding females and an active core colony in the area. An updated survey must be requested. You may have seen heightened activity on social media as well as in main stream media on the significance of the Brandy Hill koala population. We must not lose sight of the fact that the bulldozing of land for the expansion will also affect other endangered species including the grey-headed flying fox, regent honeyeaters, spot-tail quoll and swift parrot. The Brandy Hill quarry expansion was approved by the NSW government just 2 weeks after a parliamentary enquiry found koalas in the State would be extinct by 2050 without urgent government intervention. Minister Ley has the final say on approving the quarry expansion. Remember, the number one threat to koalas and other wildlife is destruction and fragmentation of habitat.

If you want to voice your opinion please contact the Federal Environment Minister. On the 8th September, Sussan Ley will make her final decision on whether the expansion of Brandy Hill quarry will go ahead. You can use your social media accounts to call on the Minister to #savePortStephenskoalas. Don’t forget to tag!

Facebook: @SussanLeyMP
Twitter: @SussanLey
Instagram: @SussanLeyMP

or email by using the link on the “The Hon. Sussan Ley MP” homepage.

The IPC decision on future hours of operation has basically carried the current consent conditions forward. The key IPC condition is that product loading and despatch and quarrying operations are limited to 6am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, and at no time on Sundays or public holidays. This is the same as the 1983 EIS and consent, with the exception that the latter does not mention public holidays, and there are exceptions for maintenance and secondary/tertiary crushing. The 1983 consent conditions will remain in effect until Hanson formally advises the DPIE of the “date of Commencement” of the new consent.

The hours of operation were one of the principal issues we had with Hanson’s proposal, and has been a frequent matter for complaints about noise in the early morning and into the night. We were frustrated by PSC’s non enforcement of this matter, which we understand was partly due to the uncertainty about what the IPC would determine for the future.

That uncertainty has now gone, so I have written to PSC to properly enforce the hours of operation while they remain the consent authority.

So if you see gravel trucks entering the quarry before 6am or after 6pm Monday to Saturday, or at any time on Sundays, or hear any quarrying or crushing noise outside 6am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, please lodge your complaint with PSC. You can also complain on the HANSON Hotline, but PSC is the consent authority responsible for enforcement, so they are the prime contact, until the new consent comes into force.

We received the following at 5.05 PM today from NSW Planning:

Please be advised that the Determination for the Brandy Hill Quarry Expansion Project is now available on the IPCN website:

https://www.ipcn.nsw.gov.au/projects/2020/05/brandy-hill-quarry-expansion-project-ssd-5899

The wait is over! Please read the 3 documents from the IPC, either from the above website near the top under the heading “DETERMINATION”, or attached at the end of this post, to draw your own conclusions.

The IPC has basically endorsed the recommendations from the DPIE with some improvements in favour of the community.

• The 6 bus bays and pathway must be completed BEFORE annual production can exceed 700,000 tonnes
• No trucks before 6am
• Enclosure of all fixed processing equipment from stage 1.

There will be many disappointments for the community, but also many for Hanson, so perhaps there is some balance.

Clearly, without the efforts of so many community members, the outcome would have been much worse, so I thank you all.

The three IPC determination documents are available below:

If you have heard that the quarry is on the government’s list of projects to be fast tracked, don’t be alarmed. We have been assured by the IPC that, as the quarry project is already before the Commission, there will be no short cuts or by-passing due process.

Kate Washington also pointed out that the Brandy Hill Quarry project has one of the least employment and capital values of all the projects listed. We note that the employment figure of 31 is inflated compared to Hanson’s figure of 18 in other publications. Here is the full list of fast tracked projects:
https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/-/media/Files/DPE/Media-Releases/2020/June/fast-tracked-assessments-tranche-three-2020-06.pdf

On 29th April we received the following email from the quarry CCC Chairperson Lisa Andrews, regarding who to contact with complaints about the quarry. This was the first time we had been notified of the Hotline in all the years since the CCC was formed! Please make use of it to report your first hand experience of problems. It could still be some time before the SSDA is finalised, so keep reporting problems.

We all know that Hanson disregard the conditions of consent, but they also use the lack of complaints as justification to keep doing it. For example, in this document to the DPIE on the 11th May: https://majorprojects.planningportal.nsw.gov.au/prweb/PRRestService/mp/01/getContent?AttachRef=SSD-5899%2120200521T005501.926%20GMT
they say:

‘Already in 2020, the normal operating hours to 10:00pm of the secondary and tertiary equipment have been required on 60 evenings. It is notable that Hanson has not received any complaints about these evening operations.”

Dear CCC members,

I hope you are all well during these unprecedented times.
Recently multiple Hanson staff have been receiving numerous enquiries and complaints regarding Brandy Hill Quarry. Hanson understands the importance in providing an avenue for community members to ask questions and lodge complaints regarding a Hanson site. However, while the site remains compliant with its development consent and Environmental Protection Licence conditions, staff are somewhat limited in their ability to appease the concern of some residents. In the interest of all parties Hanson is providing a more formal procedure of communication to ensure all complaints are captured, investigated and responded to.  Accordingly, we are asking CCC members to pass along to the broader community the following details regarding Brandy Hill Quarry environmental enquiries or complaints:

Hanson Hotline: 1800 882 478

Port Stephens Council: 02 4988 0255

EPA Environmental Line: 131 555

The Hanson Hotline provides community members a way to contact Hanson regarding any concerns, enquiries or complaints while allowing a streamlined avenue in tracking the issue and providing a response to the complainant. This is also the number provided on signage associated with the quarry.

Finally, Port Stephens have overall responsibility for the current Brandy Hill Quarry consent.  Should you have any complaints and/or enquiries relating to the approval conditions for the quarry, please lodge them with Council directly.  Please note that as the site’s regulatory authority, complaints and/or enquiries regarding the environmental performance of the quarry, may be lodged through the EPA’s Environmental Line.

I trust this information is of assistance.

Kind regards,
Belinda Pignone
Environmental Planning & Compliance Coordinator

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further information.
Thank you and regards

Lisa
Lisa Andrews
Independent Chairperson &
Director
Articulate Solutions Pty Ltd
t: 0401 609 693
e: lisaandrews.ic@gmail.com

So despite lack of success with complaints to date, keep them coming as the DPIE and IPC will be monitoring the complaint register (we hope).

Here is another of the presentations to the IPC by BHSAG. This one from James Moore, giving his expert analysis showing that the quarry does not need overnight crushing or transport to achieve its goals. Best practices are also covered.

The IPC held the public meeting on the Brandy Hill Quarry Expansion by video-conference yesterday, from 10am to about 4pm. It was a tiring day after weeks of preparation by the 6 BHSAG committee members who spoke on behalf of BHSAG and VOWW. Many other passionate and concerned residents from Giles Road, Nelsons plains and elsewhere also made their presentations. We wholeheartedly thank everyone who presented to the commission or have already sent in written submissions.

The meeting was live streamed so we hope you had the opportunity to watch some of the proceedings. Hanson had two speakers present first, and they both mainly pushed their need for more hours and more trucks in order to service the Sydney market.

Written submissions
If you still want to have your say on this project but were unable to participate in the Public Meeting, you can submit your comments in writing to the Commission via email to: ipcn@ipcn.nsw.gov.au , by post or the online portal: http://www.ipcn.nsw.gov.au/have-your-say Written comments are weighed the same as spoken presentations. The IPC will accept submissions until Friday 19th June. Your support is important.

Meeting Presentations
The presentations by committee members will be posted as soon as we can. Here is the first installment, from Neil Ritchie. We can only hope the IPC has listened with more empathy than Hanson has to date.

We were very disappointed with PSC’s responses to questions from the IPC last week about costings for the bus bays and shared pathway, and the suitability of the roads and intersections for heavy vehicles. See below from the IPC website:

Other presentations will be posted as they become available .