Martins Creek Quarry Project

The expansion of the quarry will help maintain the jobs of over 850 employees and over 1000 contractors and their families all over the Hunter. Daracon is a big supporter of local communities and charities

I worked at Martins Creek Quarry for 3 years before getting a job in the Hunter Valley mines. After the downturn in 2012/13 I returned to Martins Creek Quarry and consider it a safe, secure income. If the project is rejected myself and other employees will be searching for work in an already competative market.

The proposal for the Martins Creek Quarry to conduct various processes, commencing at 4.30am until 10pm, including loading and dispatching via road transport between 5.30am and 7pm, 6 days per weeks is unreasonable and considerably beyond what may be considered usual permissible hours of operations for a business with a high potential impact in a village and rural environment.
These hours of operation will seriously impact amenity of residents near and enroute to the quarry via onsite and associate offsite activities (truck movement and parking). Hours of operation should be limited to times that will not cause disturbance to residents associated with normal sleep times, particularly prior to daylight.
The proposal does not include adequate assessment of economic or amenity impact, or any course for redress for loss of property value, property damage, poor health and diminished lifestyle. The community will have to absorb excessive, if hidden costs or unquantifiable costs, as a direct consequence of the development. it should be a requirement that these impacts are independently assessed and remediation measures proposed to limit damage and adverse impacts on individual residents and the community.
Due to the likely impact on the community all aspects of onsite and off site operations should be best practice, as a minimum. This should include noise, dust, vibration and traffic management. This should include the use of the rail corridor to limit impact on the community. Use of the rail corridor to trnaport a majority of the quarry output would significantly reduce community impact and loss of amenity, and make the proposal more equitable.
Trucks are a serious safety issue due to the condition and structure of the local road network. No trucks should not allowed to travel on any minor local roads and the number and maximum truck be nets per hour should be limited to protect the safety of all road users. Stringent conditions of consent and a monitoring regime should be required to ensure trucks use the road safely and travel on the widest/highest order roads available. This should include reporting of near misses and all accidents, and objective measuring thought each day as a demonstration of compliance.
Should the development proceed objective monitoring and reporting should be required, with results published regularly and annual licence reviews. Conditions of consent should clearly articulate that ongoing or severe breaches will result in withdrawal of consent.
The quarry development should not proceed at the expense of individual and community, and consent should be conditional to ongoing performance against strict criteria, with immediate Regulatory action for severe or ongoing breaches, including the option for cessation of operation.

Daracon has provided food on my table for many years now, the continued development of the business is crucial not only to myself, my family but also the Newcastle area. The success of the quarry will benefit a magnitude of associated people and businesses who rely only the quarry. In my opinion the proposed expansion can most certainly only be a good thing for the area.

I oppose the Martins Creek Quarry expansion, because of the increase traffic flow, noise level increase, damage to local road network and the danger these vehicles pose to residents and wildlife

The Martins Creek Quarry is a valuable resource in the region for supplying aggregates and rock to projects in the region including non Daracon Projects. Its proximity helps reduce transport costs and emissions to projects in the region. It also provides local employment for personnel who work at the quarry, transport the quarry materials or support its operation.

I support the Martins Creek Quarry Expansion as I believe it will both create jobs in the hunter, as well as provide job security for existing employees.

See Attached...

* I have been employed with Daracon for 22 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.

Refer upload

I have been employed by Daracon Group for the last 14 years. They have always been a stable place to work, providing me with the opportunity to live and work in the Hunter therefore spending locally by supporting local business.

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 necessary materials for major infrastructure projects.

Martins Creek Quarry is a big part of the organization and supports many of the infrastructure jobs. The success of the quarry helps maintain the jobs of over 850 employees and over 1000 contractors and their families.

I have held full time employment with Daracon Engineering for nearly 2 years. I am aware of importance of the materials produced at the Martins Creek Quarry not only to Daracon itself, but also to numerous small businesses in the area.

Martins Creek Quarry provides materials to a number of important projects throughout Newcastle and the Hunter Valley and if the Quarry were to close, I fear the materials would need to be sourced elsewhere and a number of these projects may become financially unfeasible and would be abandoned.

From the unique perspective of the Accounts Payable Department, I am also aware of the large amount of businesses, mainly sole traders and husband and wife teams that would be adversely affected by the closure of the Quarry and subsequent downturn in business.

In order to see crucial growth for our region, and the continued support of local communities and charities, The Martins Creek Quarry needs to remain open.

Letter attached

Please refer to attached letter of support for this application.

I have been employed by Daracon for over 20 years. The expansion of this quarry will give job security to me and many other employees. The products that come out of the quarry will provide for the increasing number of projects planned for the region.

An employee of Daracon for 6 years, I have enjoyed working locally for a local company with local issues and local jobs at heart.
Born and raised in the hunter valley, I am critically aware of the impact (good and bad) that local industry can have on communities and the greater good to be achieved.
The quarry expansion at Martins Creek is crucial in ensuring local job security and ultimately will help result in improved resources for local communities

Martins Creek is not just a Quarry and it's not just a community, the two would not exist without each other.

Daracon Engineering supports numerous charities and employs hundreds of local workers.
I support the quarry remaining open.

I have enjoyed long term, stable employment at Daracon for 10 years

The diverse nature of its business is a key factor in providing stability, of which construction materials sales plays a key role.

The continuing operation of Martins Ck is essential to continued stable employment for a large number of hunter locals employed by this company