Australia, Aug. 23 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 23:

1. The applicant in these appeal proceedings is Buttai Gravel Pty Ltd (BG). BG is the operator of Martins Creek Quarry (quarry), an existing hard rock quarry enterprise located in the Dungog Shire Council (DSC) Local Government Area (LGA). BG appeals under s 8.7 of the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (EPA Act) against the refusal of a fresh development application (DA) which would provide for an expansion of currently approved quarry operations and associated development.

2. The DA is State significant development within the meaning of s 4.36(1) of the EPA Act, and the consent authority is the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC), the first respondent in the proceedings. The IPC's reference number for the DA is SSD-6612. The IPC refused the DA on 13 February 2023, after the NSW Department of Planning and Environment had recommended consent be granted subject to conditions.

3. The DA is seeking consent to extract, process and transport by road and rail up to 1.1 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of quarry materials, including expansion into a new extraction area. A defined quarry truck haulage route from the quarry to the New England Highway at Maitland passes through both Dungog LGA and Maitland LGA. Maitland City Council (MCC) and Dungog Shire Council (DSC) were joined to the proceedings as second and third respondents, respectively.

4. Briefly here, we have determined that the appeal should be dismissed and the DA refused. There are two principal aspects behind the reasoning for this decision. The first aspect is based on the need to balance the public interest in approving or disapproving the project. While there are certainly beneficial aspects to the proposal, the negative consequences outweigh benefits. The beneficial impacts of the DA relate principally to the supply of the quarry's product for the construction sector and particularly for infrastructure projects of public significance. The negative consequences are particularly in relation to adverse traffic and pedestrian safety implications and social and amenity related impacts in the local area. The second aspect is based on our finding that BG has not made its case in relation to certain matters which warranted further resolution. Each aspect is individually determinative in this matter.

Background

The site and locality

5. The quarry site is located near the village of Martins Creek, approximately 7 km north of the village of Paterson in the Hunter Valley region of NSW (see Figure 1).

6. The quarry is located off Station Street, Martins Creek and includes a rail spur, which is connected to the Main North Coast railway line. The quarry site is described in the Applicant's Closing Submissions, dated 27 March 2025, (ACS) par 12 as comprising Lot 6 in DP 1298985, Lot 5 in DP 242210, Lot 42 in DP 815628, Lot 1 in DP 1006375, Lot 1 in DP 204377 and Lots 4 and 6 in DP 249026.

7. The site is bound by the North Coast Rail Line to the west, Vogeles Road to the south and a densely vegetated ridgeline to the north and east. To the north of the site is the locality of Vacy. Existing road access to the site is via Grace Avenue and Station Street in Martins Creek. The site's rail spur connects to the North Coast Rail Line providing access to Newcastle, Sydney and Regional NSW.

8. Apart from Martins Creek village itself, the predominant land use in the quarry environs is agricultural. Rural residential land use has become prominent more recently, with land subdivision and housing to the north and south of the Martins Creek village and in Vacy (Ex A Tab 04 p 1.4).

9. The quarry product haulage route is 28 kms in length from the site to the New England Highway at East Maitland (indicated in blue in Figure 1). The route passes through quite a range of land uses including agricultural areas, Paterson village in Dungog LGA and the developing areas of Bolwarra and Bolwarra Heights before entering Maitland town centre.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1982a9e7b883bed280df1619)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.