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Letter to the Editor – Objection to the Hanson Quarry Expansion

Letter to the Editor

To the Minister for Roads and Road Safety
To the Minister for Energy Environment and Climate Change
To the Minster for Resources
To Cathy Wilkinson – EPA
Victorian Ombudsman

OBJECTION TO THE HANSON QUARRY EXPANSION
CONTROL OF HEAVY VEHICLES, DUST NOISE, POLLUTION & ROAD SAFETY ISSUES

My family and I have lived in Rowville, Wellington Village Estate since 2001, in close proximity to two
nearby quarries, operated by Boral and Hanson, with access from Wellington Road.

For years now we have experienced and put up with a significant amount of heavy vehicles exiting
and entering the quarries from Wellington Road. I am an not alone, I am part of a larger community
group of over 300 members, working together for the greater good of the Rowville and Lysterfield
community in the interests of road safety, public amenity and public health.

More recently the number of HV movements along Wellington Road originating from the quarries is
unprecedented, and it has come to our attention that Hanson are proposing an expansion of its
quarry. I respectfully request that VicRoads/DoT analyse the 2020 traffic data than can be collected
from in-surface, in-road traffic loops at the following intersections (Hanson Quarry Access Site No.
881, Napoleon RD Site No. 789, Silkwood Way Site No. 10001, Taylors Lane Site No 803 and Stud
Rd Site No 784, along with data and footage from the CCTV camera at Stud Rd/Wellington Road) to
ascertain the number of HV movements to and from the quarries and provide that information to the
local community group.

The explosion in heavy vehicles movements in compromising road safety, with the locals community
reporting dangerous driving, speeding, running traffic signals, to which I have brought to the attention
of the local Rowville Police Station and others to the National Heavy Vehicles Regulator.
I understand that VicRoads are a referral authority for any development adjoining the arterial road
network, including Wellington Road. I request some confirmation about the issue of the relevant
Planning Permits and a Copy of Same, associated with the Hanson and Boral quarries adjacent
Wellington Road, and I would like to know what conditions if any VicRoads has imposed on past
planning applications associated with the operations of the quarries in relation to restricting the
number of HV movements. If not, then I seriously urge VicRoads/DoT to re-consider its position in
light of road safety, public safety, public amenity and public health and to a level consistent with public
expectations.

I urge you and/or your department to take a drive along Wellington Road, along the left lane
from quarries and take note of the significant cracking / damaged road surface, major road
deformation a short distance west of Stud Road, all the way to Dandenong Creek Bridge.
The number of HV movements should be reconsidered as a minimum, given the following:

• The presence of Wellington Village Shopping Centre, a location of high volume local traffic,
high volume of pedestrian and school children traffic,

• The presence St Simon’s Primary School (cnr Wellington Rd/Taylors Lane), with high volume of
vulnerable road users, school children, and dare I ask again, I respectfully demand that
Government install Variable Electronic School Speed Zone Signs;

• The presence of 2 Childcare/Early Learning Centres; 1028 Wellington Road and 1 Taylors
Lane (cnr Wellington Rd/Taylors Lane)

Furthermore, there is the issue of dust and loose crushed rock deposited on the road surface along
the length of Wellington Road from the quarries to at least Stud Road. This material – silica dust – is
dangerous to public health, and as cars and trucks travel, it raises the dust into the atmosphere and
spreads it across and into adjoining residential properties, Wellington Village Shopping Centre,
Schools and Childcare Centres, walkers and bicyclists. The loose stone also causes a risk and
hazard to bicyclists using the designated lane, posing a risk of sliding and falling on to the road
surface and being struck by passing vehicles.

Government should be following its same Green Policy and reducing and phasing out the reliance of
virgin quarry materials in lieu of investing in production and the use of recycled quarry type materials
as it has done with coal fired power stations. Or at the very least not approving further expansion of
quarries in metropolitan Melbourne, some 30km from the CBD in in the heart of suburban Melbourne,
but rather siting new investment in quarries inn rural and regional Victoria, further supporting the
economic development of rural Victoria

Therefore the proposed expansion of any of the quarries needs to be carefully considered and all
these hazards and risks will be exaggerated.

Peter Bernardo

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