A Port Stephens community group says it is "shocked" after the NSW Independent Planning Commission approved the new Eagleton rock quarry near Raymond Terrace.
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EcoNetwork Port Stephens spokesperson Nigel Waters said the Balickera quarry would erode the area's natural and social amenity and put more trucks on local roads.
The quarry, which has been seeking development approval since 2017, will produce up to 600,000 tonnes of rock annually for 30 years and generate an estimated 170 inward and 170 outward trucks movements a day.
Transport for NSW objected to the quarry in 2017 after deeming the intersection of Italia Road and the Pacific Highway unsafe for additional southbound trucks turning across northbound highway traffic.
Eagleton Rock Syndicate amended its plans so outbound trucks will turn left onto the Pacific Highway and drive 11 kilometres north before turning around near Karuah and heading south.
The road infrastructure to accommodate the massive increase in haulage vehicles is not in place, yet quarry approvals are taking place.
- Nigel Waters, EcoNetwork Port Stephens
Building industry supplier Boral has plans to extend the life of nearby Seaham Quarry by 30 years to 2057 and almost double its maximum output to 2 million tonnes a year.
Also in Italia Road, Australian Resource Development Group is seeking approval for its Stone Ridge Quarry, which would produce up to 1.5 million tonnes of hard rock for 30 years.
The three quarry projects combined would send an estimated 1000 extra trucks a day through the Italia Road-Pacific Highway intersection each way, or 365,000 a year.
It is likely all of the southbound trucks would be routed north via Karuah.
Mr Waters said the combined traffic impacts of multiple hard rock quarry developments compromised the community's ability to safely use and access the Pacific Highway.
"Simply stated, the road infrastructure to accommodate the massive increase in haulage vehicles is not in place, yet quarry approvals are taking place," he said.
The proposed truck movements prompted federal Nationals MP David Gillespie to call last year for a new interchange with slip roads from Italia Road and the Bucketts Way linked to a Medowie Road overpass.
Mr Waters said the latest approval had been granted "in the absence of transparent consideration of the project's strategic, social and conservation implications in the context of the other nine hard rock quarries operational or proposed within a 25km radius in our rural hinterland area".
The IPC found the Eagleton site was "suitable for a hard rock quarry given its hard rock resources, topography, avoidance of major environmental constraints and access to the regional road network".
The commission acknowledged residents' concerns and found the impacts of the development could be mitigated through strict conditions of consent, including noise, blasting and air-quality criteria.
Nearby resident Anna Kerr said her neighbours were weighing up their options for a legal appeal.
Mr Waters said the Eagleton quarry would affect the local environment.
"The Eagleton Quarry Project will contribute to the loss of habitat essential for the survival of a number of threatened species, including our iconic koala," he said.
"Time will tell about the impacts of another quarry in our Grahamstown Dam water catchment."
He said the state government should "properly plan" for producing construction materials.
"It is not sustainable to effectively destroy the amenity and biodiversity of a region to support development elsewhere," he said.
"Earlier this year we called on ministers Penny Sharpe and Paul Scully to urgently address the matters we raised in our hard rock quarry issues paper but have so far been ignored.
"Without consideration of the cumulative impacts that extensive hard rock quarry development in our region will cause, we face an inevitable destruction of the environmental attributes we so greatly value and need."
The nearby Brandy Hill quarry won expansion approval from the IPC in 2020.