The City of Swan has recommended the Western Australian Planning Commission approve a 5.4 hectare expansion of Hanson Construction Materials’ Red Hill quarry North of Toodyay Road.
At a council meeting last week, the controversial quarry expansion was approved subject to a number of conditions.
Council approval represents a minor victory for the company, which has experienced vocal opposition to its long-term expansion plans from surrounding landowners and community groups since it relocated to the site in 1996.
Hanson is also currently involved in a Supreme Court action, lodged by an adjacent landowner who alleges the quarry was developed outside the permitted footprint, approved in 1991, causing an unexpected visual impact on neighbouring property.
Hanson WA metropolitan operations manager John Symonds told WA Business News it had been operating on the 808ha land parcel since 1962, albeit in a different section in Herne Hill.
Mr Symonds said it moved to its current site because of community pressure for the open-pit to be less obvious or visible to residents, and had tried hard not to be offensive to the community.
“We know that quarries produce lots of traffic movement, dust and noise, but we’re bound by Department of Environment and Conservation conditions and we publish documents to prove our compliance,” he said.
Mr Symonds said residents were increasingly moving to the area for a better lifestyle and saw the quarry as encroaching on that, but it would be very difficult for the company to move to another greenfields site.
“Quarries need to be close to communities to reduce transport costs and therefore keep the costs of housing, schools and roads down,” he explained.
“There is huge demand for raw materials from rock…our biggest challenge going forward will be satisfying the community that we are a responsible operation.”
If the WAPC approves the latest plan, the quarry will be expanded on its north-west side. However, this expansion is dwarfed by more ambitious plans to expand the quarry by 80ha over the next 100 years.
A Public Environmental Report assessment is currently underway concerning the larger proposal.
