Map of Gerroa Quarry site and transport routes. Image: RW Cokery & Co.
Kiama Council is calling on the state’s planning department to ensure that the owner of a Gerroa sand mine conducts safety, noise and road assessments before considering increasing the weight and frequency of vehicles travelling from the site.
Concerns about the impact on residents and roads in southern Kiama have been raised after the Gerroa Quarry mine owners applied to increase the amount of product transported annually from 80 tonnes to 120 tonnes.
A submission by council staff on the proposal, currently before the NSW Planning Department, said a modification report had “not adequately addressed the impacts of transport routes and heavy vehicles” and requested an updated traffic impact assessment be provided before a determination was made.
But councillors have chosen to take it one step further, requesting that the applicants conduct a full pavement assessment of the route on council roads and the expected impacts of heavier and more frequent loads on the life and deterioration of the stretches.
The amendments by Councillor Melinda Lawton also included a request for a cost assessment for maintenance and replacement of this accelerated deterioration, a noise assessment of the routes and a road safety audit.
Gerroa Environmental Protection Society representative Warren Holder addressed councillors before the latest council meeting and said existing safety and noise impacts on residents would only be exacerbated by an increase in vehicles.
“Up through quite a sizeable hill after you cross the bridge at Gerroa, you’ve got a significant wall face on one size which reflects the noise straight back onto the people that live along the side of the road,” Warren said.
And the damage to the road is already evident even at the current capacity.
“Kiama Council not that long ago resurfaced it, nice and flat, beautiful, and of course now if you look at Google Earth or go down there, it’s obliterated in the last year.
“This is at 80 tonnes, what would it be like at 120?”
Councillors welcomed the additional requests within the motion to ensure the infrastructure can continue to serve the community and that council funds aren’t wasted on repairs that won’t withstand the changes.
“The brand new pavement that Kiama Council has put down there is already cracking in places and you can actually feel that wave of the road as obviously heavy trucks and other vehicles are creating some areas that are being packed down more than others,” Councillor Matt Brown said.
“My understanding that the last repavement that was done to that section of the road didn’t put a significant underbase in there as well, it was mainly a surface upgrade and I would have concerns about the life and the safety of that road unless we get some of the answers that Councillor Lawton has asked in her questions.”
Of the 49 submissions on the NSW Planning portal website, 46 objected to the modification request.
For more details and to stay up to date on the application, visit the Planning Portal website.
