Neighbours who could be living about 500 metres from the quarry have a long list of worries including noise, grime, and dust and water pollution seeping into a nearby creek.
On the other hand, small businesses have supported the proposal, saying it will help supply farmers with a much needed rock product. More than 60 submissions, split down the middle, have been made to the Moyne Shire Council.
Developers Bracam Holdings have amended earlier plans, halving the excavation area down to 11.66 hectares and ruling out using blasting. The quarry, if approved, would supply decayed basalt rock – or coffee rock – that is used for the construction of farm tracks. A report to the council explained that coffee rock was in short supply in the shire because it had been extensively used for tracks on wind farms.
Councillors support application
One of the councillors in favour of the application told Warrnambool?s local newspaper The Standard that Bracam Holdings? quarry application was proposed for a farming zone and therefore was a permitted use of the land. ?This is a farming activity in a shire that is based on farming,? Cr Ralph Leutton said.
Moyne Shire Council?s planning officers have recommended council approve the permit on the condition that crushing or quarrying work not happen on days of forecast strong winds. Cr James Purcell told The Standard that there were six pages of conditions attached to the Council?s approval of the application, while Cr Jill Parker stated that authorities such as Southern Rural Water and the Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority had also recommended conditions. Cr Parker added that she supported the quarry application because it would not cover more than two hectares at any one time and the area would be rehabilitated back to farmland when quarrying had ceased.
Source: The Standard (Warrnambool)