Eagleton Quarry has been granted approval. Image: NSW Department of Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure report
A new hard rock quarry has been granted approval from the NSW Independent Planning Commission subject to conditions.
The new Eagleton Quarry – located in the Port Stephens council area – was granted approval earlier this week.
Eagleton Rock Syndicate Pty Ltd submitted a state significant development application seven years ago alongside an environmental impact statement. The company was seeking to develop a new hard rock quarry capable of extracting, processing and transporting 600,000 tonnes of hard rock per year across a 30-year period.
The company would provide hard rock material to the Hunter, Central Coast and Sydney construction markets.
The supply of hard rock material which was “reliable and affordable” for infrastructure projects across NSW and the Hunter region was outlined in The Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure’s report as being important able to be “partially met” by the Eagleton Quarry.
More than 50 public submissions were made to the NSW Department of Planning, Housing, and Infrastructure, which resulted in the NSW Independent Planning Commission becoming the consent authority.
The commission found the site’s “hard rock resources, topography, avoidance of major environmental constraints and access to the regional road network” made it a “suitable” quarry.
While the department’s report acknowledged several competing surrounding land uses including historic, tourism and ecological uses, it accepted the need for infrastructure investment is identified in several key state and regional strategy documents.
Following agency feedback last year, Eagleton Rock Syndicate revised proposed site access and road haulage route for the project, completed updated environmental assessments and lodged an amended development application.
The department accepted the “strategic need” for hard rock material in the surrounding region, especially from a “well-suited” location like the Eagleton Quarry. It also accepted the project would bring “significant” economic benefits to the state through the supply of construction materials
“The department considers that the benefits of the Project outweigh its residual costs, the site is suitable for the proposed development, and that the project is in the public interest and is approvable, subject to the recommended strict conditions of consent,” the department concluded.
In its statement for the decision, the commission believed its conditions would mitigate and minimise the impacts of the project raised in submissions.
“The commission is committed to ensuring that this greenfield project successfully encourages community engagement through real time and attended monitoring and a forum for the discussion of the project’s performance in a community consultative committee.”
The post Eagleton Quarry granted approval appeared first on Quarry.