Bathurst Regional Council’s decision under delegated authority to give the green light for the quarry on a property off the Ophir Road in Arrow Lane at Rock Forest drew a crowd of more than 80 people to a meeting on Thursday.

Councillors Jess Jennings, Bobby Bourke and Ian North attended the meeting at the Rock Forest Fire Station shed to hear the concerns of the residents, who believe road safety is the major issue that needs to be considered.

The newly-elected Cr Jennings told the Western Advocate yesterday that, in principle, he believes council needs to be seen to be more consultative.

“In this instance [over the quarry] this means explaining the delegated authority process and how it operates,” Cr Jennings said. 

“For the majority of the time it’s probably just fine, but you can’t expect everything to be perfect and to get it right every time.

“On the face of it, the residents’ concerns sound valid to me. There are some environmental concerns, but the main issues are road logistics and the fact you will have trucks, school buses and other traffic on that road.”

Cr Jennings said there isn’t anyone who lives more than one kilometre out of town that couldn’t relate to this type of issue.

“I live at The Lagoon, so I know,” he said. “We [councillors Jennings, Bourke and North] will now relate the residents’ concerns back to council and see what options there are in the short term,” he said.

“However, the development has been approved and, at this stage, appealing to the goodwill of the developer seems the best option to me.

“I was amazed to see so many people at the meeting. There’s certainly strong feeling in that community, with very real concerns about a traffic accident. There’s several points where a bus can’t even pull off the road.”

Cr Jennings said that living at The Lagoon, he wants to be a voice for the villages.

“One point that was made at the meeting is that council is too city-centric,” he said. “I want to make the point I live on a road similar to the one being discussed and can relate to the issues.”

As to possible concerns that Bathurst Regional Council discussed too many issues in confidential committee, Cr Jennings said he’s still too new to comment.

“However, I want to ensure this council is as open and transparent as possible,” he said.

Bathurst Regional Council’s chief town planner David Shaw said yesterday he passed the quarry under delegated authority.

“It’s on the applicant’s land and will be less than two hectares in size,” he said. “The DA is to remove about 21,000 cubic metres of granite, which can be taken over 12 months or 10 years until the target amount is removed.

“It’s a very small operation and is not within close proximity to any dwellings. There can be up to 10 truck movements on any given day, six days a week.”

Mr Shaw said the developer has to pay upfront contributions for the upgrading of the Ophir Road and its intersection with Arrow Lane.