Martins Creek Quarry Project

The Expansion will be great for employees and sub contractors. The local community will benefit by employees and Sub contractor shopping local and injecting much needed funds to any small community.

I am a truck driver that is employed by a company that derives their income from contracting to Daracon. As a result my income is formed from this work also. If Martin's Creek Quarry is to decrease their work then my income will be directly affected by this.

I strongly support the expansion because it keeps local people in paid employment. Daracon supports local charities and organizations.

I support this, the region needs it

I object to any expansion of Martins Creek Quarry. Daracon blasting is already impacting on our lives through noise and dust pollution. We have been here for 14 years and I have developed asthma from the dust and dust levels in our house are excessive.
Truck movements in the villiage are excessive and our roads are unsuitable to carry any increase in volume. The road layout through Paterson includes a rail crossing and 90 deg. turn making it a dangerous manoeuvre for trucks with trailers. I find it difficult to enter the traffic flow when I am parked at the supermarket or post office.
In particular, some trucks contracted by Daracon use Martins Creek Road for forward and backward trips. Our farm entrance is quite unsighted and the danger is immediate.

As a member of Daracon's civil infrastructure team as a grader/dozer operator. I've been employed by Daracon for 6 years. The quarry at martins creek is an extremely important part of not just Daracon but the wider hunter community. It's one of only 3 hard rock quarry's in the hunter and limiting the rock that we can truck out the gate will be hurting most civil and roadworks jobs in the region. It produces in my opinion the highest quality rock around. And with out it Daracon who does a lot of these jobs pays more for the material from other quarry's. and that in turn means the tax payer money is increased also. I've herd some of the redicilous claims about truck movement trough Paterson which seems to be the main reason the community doesn't want the expansion. An extra 80 trucks an hour just isn't physically possible with the crushing equipment we have working up in the quarry. The quarry expansion at martins creek is essentially a good move for everyone. It will also keep locals employed well into the future.

* I have been employed with Daracon for almost 30 years and have enjoyed the stable employment it provides.
* Martins Creek Quarry is a big part of the organisation and supports many of the infrastructure jobs we undertake
* The Success of the quarry helps maintain the jobs of over 850 employees and over 1000 contractors and their families
* Daracon is a supporter of local communities and charities
* As a resident of the Hunter Valley, Daracon creates opportunities for people from many different backgrounds
* There are a lot of infrastructure projects in the Hunter. Limiting material supply may increase the cost of projects which the taxpayer is funding
* The construction industry relies on the Quarry as one of only a couple of hard rock suppliers in the region and if the Hunter Valley is to prosper and grow, Martins Creek Quarry will be required to provide the necessary materials for major infrastructure projects.
* The Quarry provides materials to many projects crucial to the growth and prosperity of the region: road construction, housing, railway construction and other public infrastructure.
* As a long term employee of Daracon I have been lucky enough to have been employed continuously through hard times, through the down turn in the mining industry and the GFC
* I also know of many projects outside of Daracon that also rely on the materials available from Martins Creek Quarry. I believe it is one of only 3 hard rock quarries of this kind in the region.
* I believe the Quarry plays an important part within not just the Daracon group but also in the supply to many projects within the Hunter Valley area and to numerous local businesses.
* The quarry provides materials required in many of our projects and without the quarry, some of our projects would not be commercially viable and would not proceed.
* For the region to grow at the rate we would like, and at a rate reported in the Hunter Regional Plan 2036, not only do we need to support local jobs but we also need to be able to service the demand of a growing population with the necessary construction materials.

I oppose the Martins Creek Quarry Expansion.
The reason I am so opposed to this expansion is the impact the quarry is having on myself and my family and the terrible impact it is having on the surrounding communities. The immediate impact on myself is as follows: the blasting, the noise and the dust. I'll start with the blasting, whilst there has always been a quarry, the blasting seemed to be at a manageable level ... now the blasts are such that the our home violently shakes. We have new cracks in the brick walls of the house plus in the concrete veranda surrounding the house. Cracks have also begun to appear in plaster board walls. Our home is over 25 years old so it is definitely not the "settling in pains" that new homes can experience. The noise from the blasting is extremely loud, often causing distress to my wife. The dust is much worse than it used to be.
I hold grave concerns for the "proposed" new entrance to quarry onto Dungog Road. If I am correct on it's position ... it will be located on a very unsafe and unsuitable site ... just over the crest of a hill where a serious accident will be waiting to happen. As for the truck movements ... there are far too many at the moment without increasing them. These roads were not built to take the amount of heavy vehicles they are presently running. Hence the present need for continued and ongoing repairs. The local communities of Paterson, Vacy and Martins Creek are historical and peaceful locations where families have chosen to live for years in order to avoid the "big city - industrial" feel. My wife and I chose to live in Vacy for these very reasons and now I feel that Daracon is ruining the quite tranquillity of the place I call home. I am concerned that Martins Creek and Vacy will turn into industrial towns with their new "proposed" work hours. More trucks, more blasts, more dust and noise will destroy the reason why myself and family and many other families choose to live in this beautiful
setting.
We always new the quarry was there and we never really worried about it, but since Daracon have taken over the operation of the plant, the heavy vehicle numbers have increased to a ridiculous and at times dangerous numbers. Expansion of the quarry will only compound and increase the problems I have already spoken about. So as a community member living within a 3 kilometre radius of the quarry, I only ask you look at the true facts of the impact on the community this quarry is currently having and to reject this application by Daracon. You know the community feeling as it was expressed clearly and passionately at the public meeting held on the 2/11/16 at Paterson. So I say again NO EXPANSION !!

Martins Creek Quarry is a big part of Daracon and supports many of the infrastructure jobs we undertake.

The Success of the quarry helps maintain the jobs of over 850 employees and over 1000 contractors and their families

The quarry has been running since 1910 and has been suppyling goods to a wide area since its inception.
Not only does it supply a big number of the infrastructure jobs that Daracon does but it supplies other businesses as well and without this supply the costs of these projects would escalate not making it worth while.
Without this local supply many local jobs will be affected, not just the quarry workers themselves.
Regards

I have been employed with Daracon for 11 years and have enjoyed the stable employment it provides.
Martins Creek Quarry is a big part of the organisation and supports many of the infrastructure jobs we undertake.
The Success of the quarry helps maintain the jobs of over 850 employees and over 1000 contractors and their families

The construction industry relies on the Quarry as one of only a couple of hard rock suppliers in the region and if the Hunter Valley is to prosper and grow, Martins Creek Quarry will be required to provide the necessary materials for major infrastructure projects.

As a result of the downturn in the mining industry the job security in the region has been greatly impacted. I think any opportunities to utilise the skills of our existing workforce and provide long term secure employment should be strongly supported.

The Success of the quarry helps maintain the jobs of over 850 employees and over 1000 contractors and their families

Martins Creek Quarry has been critical in securing many people's future through employment not only for Daracon employees but also various contractors. Martins Creek Quarry is also a big factor in many infrastructure jobs progressing through the Newcastle and Hunter Valley region.

I have been employed with Daracon for almost three years and have enjoyed the stable employment it provides. Martins Creek Quarry is a big part of the organisation and supports many of the infrastructure jobs we undertake. Moreover, Martins Creek Quarry provides materials to many projects crucial to the growth and prosperity of the region: road construction, housing, railway construction and other public infrastructure. I believe that the Quarry plays a very important part within not just the Daracon group but also in the supply to many projects within the Hunter Valley area and to numerous local business. For the region to grow at the rate we would like, and at a rate reported in the Hunter Regional Plan 2036, not only do we need to support local jobs but we also need to be able to service the demand of a growing population with the necessary construction materials. As a local resident and an employee of Daracon, I support Martins Creek Expansion Project.

I have been employed by Daracon for 10 years 9 months and have enjoyed the ongoing employment. I have always found the company to be open about their dealings with the public.
Daracon is a big employer of local people and Martins Creek plays a big part of the company. Because it is a Hunter Valley company and the infrastructure projects we rely on local sources for materials & supplies for these projects. We need growth in the valley and the expansion projects would go a long way in ensuring local people have jobs and the materials are available to keep the costs of projects down

Daracon Group is a major employer within in the Hunter region as well as providing ongoing work to over 1000 subcontractors.
The proposed quarry expansion will help to ensure the future prosperity of the company and provide for the livelihoods of local Hunter residents.

I am opposed to the expansion of Martins Creek Quarry because as a property owner and manager of a guest house the increased truck traffic through Paterson directly affects not only my business and my lifestyle but also my health. I live in the historic building and home which is the post office and I am right on the corner in the center of town. The noise from the truck traffic disturbs not only me but also my guests. I have on occasion had guests leave due to the truck noise, or have said they would not return for that reason. My house also shudders when trucks round the corner and the double brick walls are showing signs of cracking up. My health is affected by the dust from the trucks continually going past 2 sides of my home and garden by way of nose bleeds almost daily. These nose bleeds are a direct result of the dust levels and can sometimes last for up to an hour, sometimes several times in a day. I live and work at my home as I also have a gallery where I hold art classes for children. Sometimes the truck noise is so bad that we have to stop conversations until they pass. The noise also drowns out any household sounds such as television, radio, music etc. Quite often a truck will park outside my home leaving their engine running while they go to the cafe for lunch, often with their radio blaring aswell. This can last sometimes for 20 minutes. I have trouble hearing people on the phone and have to walk around trying to find a quiet place, or shut myself in a cupboard, this is bad because I am usually on a business call where I need to be at my desk. The noise level and frequency of the truck traffic is already unacceptable, let alone increasing it to 80 movements per hour.

To whom it may concern,

I was recently informed by a number of clients who sub-contract to the Daracon Martins Creek quarry and was upset to hear that there was an objection to scale back on their proposed expansion.

These employees, sub-contractors and local businesses will all suffer due to a loss of income and this will have a detrimental impact on the local economy, not to mention their families.

Our business strongly supports the quarry expansion and trust this serves as additional reasoning to the proposal.