Council moves on recycling facility

Gosford Council has decided to proceed with a proposal to build a resource recovery facility at the old Bulls Hill Quarry site in Woy Woy Rd

It will seek a "gateway" determination from the Department of Planning to allow it to proceed with a rezoning application that would permit the facility at the site.

A staff report to the council stated that the Bulls Hill Quarry site was needed as an "alternative waste technology" site.

"Now only the Woy Woy site is operational as landfill and recycling is a necessity."

The need for a "resource recovery facility" within the Gosford Local Government Area had been identified as long as 10 years ago.

When the council introduced a garden waste collection in the year 2000, the subcontractor proposed to establish a processing facility for green waste and building waste on the Bulls Hill Quarry site.

A consultants' report 17 years earlier, in 1983, had identified the Bulls Hill Quarry as a suitable site.

It said the site was well clear of residential areas.

It had good access and was well screened.

Any environmental impacts "would appear to be able to be controlled economically".

The staff report to council this month stated that, in 2002, the council decided not to rezone the quarry site for the purpose, but in 2004 it resolved to "support and encourage the establishment of compost and recycling-resource recovery facilities in Gosford".

A 2006 report favoured the Bulls Hill site for domestic waste, green waste and building waste, resulting in the council approaching the Department of Land for use of the site.

The council's 2009 draft Local Environment Plan showed the land as a recycling facility.

However, the State Department of Planning required a separate planning proposal be prepared for the rezoning.

In the council staff report this month, council's waste services manager advised that the existing tip at Kincumber "has now closed for landfilling and continues to operate only as a transfer facility".

"The remaining Woy Woy landfill has a limited life (to 2032) based on current usage so it is imperative that council seeks to prolong its economic life by recycling all suitable material.

"The planning proposal provides the capability to divert significant quantities of construction and demolition waste and alo green waste from the existing landfill.

""The proposal provides important cost benefits for the residents of the City both in the short and long term."

The report described the site as being 750m from Woy Woy Rd and accessed via an unsealed road adjoining Lot 7049.

A section of Lot 7049 has been granted as an Aboriginal Land Claim to the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council.

However, according to the Council report, the access track to the site constituted part of the land that had been excluded from the Land Claim.

Council's report states that in line with the "disturbed nature of the site due to the previous quarrying operations, it is unlikely that there are any remaining Aboriginal relics, if they were there in the first place."

The planning proposal prepared by staff stated that there would be a limited impact on residents due to the isolated location of the site, with the nearest residential area situated one kilometre away to the south and an isolated residential dwelling 400m away to the north.

Council staff reported that the facility had "the potential to emit polluting levels of noise, dust and odour" but that these impacts could be "minimised by satisfying the existing environmental standards".

The site operated as a sandstone quarry until 1982, although the licence continued until the mid 1990s.

Council Agenda ENV.73, 7 Dec 2010