Planning panel to decide Gunlake Quarry expansion

The NSW Planning and Assessment Commission will determine Gunlake Quarries’ bid to expand its Brayton Road operations from 750,000 to two million tonnes of material per annum. 

The hearing, set down for Marulan hall at 10am on Tuesday, January 31, will hear from the proponent and objectors.

The Commission has appointed Lynette Briggs (chair), Roger Fisher and Brian Gilligan to hear the case.

Gunlake’s expansion will mean 590 trucks traversing Brayton Road daily to Sydney markets, an increase of about 160 vehicles. It’s caused a storm of controversy, with 49 people formally lodging objections. Despite this, the NSW Department of Planning has recommended conditional approval.

Marulan district resident Michelle Costello said a large number of community members would attend the hearing.

“I am also aware that a number of people are registering to speak with the view that rail, not road, is the only option acceptable for Gunlake's planned expansion to transport their product,” she said.

“There is a rail link at this end and all the way to Sydney, including a rail receival depot close to Gunlake's main processing plant in Sydney.  It is ludicrous that Gunlake has said that rail options were fully explored and discounted as ‘unfeasible’.”

The company has stood behind its studies, which concluded rail was unviable.

The community has urged Gunlake to adopt the rail model used by nearby quarry operator, Holcim. Mrs Costello said it was “commonsense” that 590 trucks travelling the road, which was also a bus route, and the Hume highway, was “a disaster waiting to happen.” This was not to mention “enormous” repair costs.

Community consultative committee member Ken Wray stressed that people were not trying to stop the expansion, but to make roads safer.

He said he was disappointed with NSW Planning’s recommendation, draft approval conditions and acceptance of Gunlake’s consultants’ studies without doing “independent” checks. Mr Wray argued these should be undertaken on Gunlake’s claims that rail was unviable and on noise generation from trucks.

“I  suspect that (the Department) is merely going through the motions as required by the regulations and that the local community is a nuisance,” he said.

“The Community Consulative Committee has not been involved in discussions with Gunlake over the proposal.  Rather, Gunlake has appointed a PR firm to sell their preferred option to the community.

“This expansion has all the hallmarks of a setup deal, for which the community will pay dearly in the future.”