MACKAS SAND ALTERNATE ACCESS ROAD – FEB UPDATE
At the TRRA meeting held on 11 February 2013 a map was displayed HERE which illustrated the truck movements on Nelson Bay Road based on the 2 licensed sites of 1,000,000 tonnes each for Mackas Sand. Note that the current alternate road proposal is only being considered on the basis of 500,000 tonnes from one site. The map highlighted the effects on Williamtown and Salt Ash roundabouts, the latter to be used as a U turn for trucks returning to reload as the access road is left in and left out. Truck movements range from 8 to 32 per hr through the Salt Ash roundabout.
The licence approval was confirmed in a letter HERE received by TRRA after the meeting from the Environmental Protection Authority, responding to TRRA’s letter to the Minister for the Environment, Robyn Parker.
Various scenarios relating to truck movements/extraction rates were included in our original TRRA submission to the Minister for Planning & Infrastructure sent in November last year HERE .
Members were asked to sign the petition at the TRRA meeting and these were delivered to Sarah Bauman (no relation to Craig) who is on the Action Committee formed at Salt Ash. All up 700 signatures were presented to Craig Baumann for forwarding to Minister for Infrastructure and Planning Brad Hazzard and an article about this was published in the Newcastle Herald HERE & HERE
TRRA continues to maintain that the Lavis Lane option is the safest transport for sand onto Nelson Bay Road and beyond. This alternate access should be rejected for public safety reasons and the Traffic Study undertaken needs to be seriously questioned.
A comment received that sums this up…… and has a positive solution:-
“Just a thought ..
All this mess started with an argument re. the “Stockton Track” and it is supposed to be an “Un-opened” Crown Road along the base of the sand hills from the Towers’ extraction point in the north to Macka’s and then down to the Worrimi / Mackas site … and then joins onto Lavis Lane.
The extraction “industry” should be required to “open” this road in an environmentally appropriate manner, at their cost , then keep all extraction movements to this road and enter the public roads network via a four lane sealed road out past the McDonalds and into Cabbage Tree Rd.
That would be a “positive” move and like anyone else they should pay the full costs of expanding their businesses, simple. It would as I understand it, be a good use of S94 (or whatever it is) funds extracted from all new actions by the extraction industry.
All this supposes that it is State Govt policy to eventually do away with the sand hills as we know them now …. just as happened at Kurnell over many years. If they want this sand on to the market …. come up here and fix this problem or it will come to blockades on NB Road to disrupt sand carriage traffic … so there.
This is all coming about because of State Govt approvals … the faceless ones should be drawn into the public glare, they control the resource being exploited.
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW
The current proposal, and any in the future, puts public safety on Nelson Bay Road at risk, not just now, but also into the future. Please write to your local NSW State member Mr Craig Baumann MP now at portstephens@parliament.nsw.gov.au expressing your concerns. The flaws in the system need to be addressed so that public safety is protected.
PORT Stephens Council has side-stepped a possible $8.5 million legal challenge after an application to rescind a controversial land acquisition at Williamtown was approved by the state government.
The council applied to the NSW Local Government Minister Don Page last year for permission to give back the land it bought from the Towers family in order to build the Stockton Bight Track.
The move came after the Towers family started procedures to take the council to the Land and Environment Court, claiming the price the council paid did not take into account a multimillion-dollar access deal they allege they had with Macka’s Sand to access their land.
Councillor Geoff Dingle said the council received notification on Wednesday, March 20 that the application to rescind the move had been approved and a notice of the move has also published in the latest edition of the Government Gazette.
Notification of the approval can be found on page 681 of the March 22 issue.
Cr Dingle said the next step for the council would be to discontinue the compensation proceedings with the Towers family.
The final bill for its legal costs so far is yet to be calculated or released but previous media reports state that costs had already exceeded $140,000.
Above is the story in the Examiner today on the net. Below is my reply on the net.
I wish to correct some content of this story. Port Stephens Council DID NOT BUY the land from the Towers Family they actually compulsorily acquired it under extremely strong objection from the Towers Family. Refer to the public access from 23rd March 2010 where I stood up in the Council Chambers in front of the public gallery, Councillors, Mayor and Council Staff and begged the council to not proceed with the action of compulsory acquisition of our land. I pointed out that it was Not for the benefit of the public but for Maccas Sand to gain access to their lease of Lot 218 which is a sand mine area. This action by Port Stephens Council has been detrimental to my Family in more than financial terms. Our reputation within the Community, our health and of course the financial burden it has placed upon us all. My Family did not want to persue this action but were placed in the most unfair position imaginable and this was our only course of action. The rescission is only the first step to closing this disgraceful saga!
Patricia Ann (Towers)
My comment in reply to Sarah Price’s story in the Examiner. Whether they publish it will be a different matter.
Regards,
Patricia Ann
LAND ACQUISITION (JUST TERMS
COMPENSATION) ACT 1991
Notice of Rescission of the Compulsory Acquisition of Land for Public Road and Compensation
IN pursuance of section 31 of the Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991, Her Excellency the Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council, does by the publication of this notice rescind the Notice of Compulsory Acquisition published in the NSW Government Gazette No. 86 of 2 September 2011 that related to the acquisition of Lots 3, 4, 5 and 6, DP 1160092 for a public road and compensation.
Signed at Sydney on the 20th day of March 2013.
The rescission of Stockton Bight Track was transacted this week.
The application before the State Planning will be sent to the NSW Planning Assessment Commission http://www.pac.nsw.gov.au at that time I believe that if the Minister decrees there to be a public meeting or hearing in regard to the application then all persons and parties who lodged a submission may attend the meeting / hearing and make a presentation to the Committee. I will monitor their website and leave a message on this site when this event occurs.
Unfortunately the new Traffic Study is still based on the extraction rate of 500,000 tonnes p/a whereas Mackas Sand has, based on confirmation from the EPA in writing, a current licence to extract 1,000,000 tonnes from the site which enters Nelson Bay Road at Lemon Tree Roundabout. In addition they have a current licence to extract 1,000,000 tonnes from the “new” site which is the subject of this alternate road “Modification to Licence” application. Why aren’t the truck movements from both sites operating at capacity being factored in? Don’t tell me a business will build a new alternate road at great cost and not use the maximum extraction their licence will allow to pay for it? At what risk to public safety?
There is a new reply to submissions on the Mackas application website. It replies to the Pauls Corner intersection concerns.