By Bonny Burrows
The developers behind the proposed Bunyip North Quarry have “yet again failed” when it comes to community consultation, locals argue.
The Mount Cannibal and District Preservation Group (MCDPG) has branded Hanson Construction Materials’ 3 March community information session on the controversial 134-hectare granite quarry proposal “an open house that delivered nothing”, after they left with what they say was more questions than answers.
While the MCDPG was grateful to have been provided its own space to observe the open day and obtain feedback from residents, the praise stopped there.
MCDPG secretary David Bywater said residents felt the format of the open day was not “satisfactory”.
“It relied on residents asking questions of consultants – a task which some residents were not comfortable with,” Mr Bywater said.
Meanwhile, local resident Greg Tate said he had trouble extracting answers from the consultants.
When asking the consultations what effect they thought blasting would have on houses that are on the same rock ridge that they are intending to blast, he was told the consultants had not even been on site.
Mr Tate said he was baffled that such “experts” could consult on a project when they hadn’t even visited the proposed location.
“You cannot make this stuff up”, Mr Tate said.
Hanson Construction Materials divisional landfill and development manager Daniel Fyfe said the meeting was a “success”, and conducted in “a positive manner”.
The open house, which was “well advertised” for over two weeks in the lead up to the event, gave locals the opportunity to discuss their issues and the study updates with the consultants, he said.
“The booking system for appointments for residents with the specialist consultants worked very well,” Mr Fyfe said.
“This enabled attendees to plan their day and the consultants were occupied for the most of the event.”
He said approximately 40 attended the session, “many of which were the existing active participants”.
