Mine threatens country estate | Bundaberg Environment | Environmental News in Bundaberg

Residents of Bella Vista Estate Graeme Chaffey and John Le Patourel are concerned about Bundaberg Sugar's nearby sand mining proposal.

Max Fleet

RHETT Pope bought his home at Bella Vista Estate two years ago, thinking he was moving to a rural paradise.

But plans to open a sand mine just blocks away from his Gooburrum acreage have sent him crashing back down to earth.

“We moved here because it was a nice quiet area, not too far from town,” he said.

“There's no way we want something like this in the backyard.”

The original plan put before council in April outlined a 3894ha area pegged for future development, stretching from Gooburrum to Moore Park Beach.

The proposal, which is in the information request stage with Bundaberg Regional Council and state agencies, has earmarked five extraction points with a planned 10,000 tonnes of sand in its first stage of operation.

“It's industry, so it will create jobs, which is great,” Mr Pope said.

“But the fact is, we don't want it anywhere near here.”

After hearing about the proposal, Zorzan Drive resident Graeme Chaffey organised a meeting with fellow residents.

He said the concern shown by others was resounding.

“No one wants a sand mine right next to our land,” he said.

“We bought out here because it was a nice, quiet area - now this.”

Bundaberg Sugar declined to answer concerns about the proposal because the company is in the process of supplying information to council and government agencies.

But Bundaberg Sugar general manager of administration Rod Young said the proposal may be subject to change in the future.

The proposal before council includes five sites, totalling 731ha, that have been earmarked for extraction and a further 925ha that would be investigation areas.

It states the extraction would begin at 10,000 tonnes each year and move to 250,000 tonnes per annum once the project was in full operation.

The amount of trucks coming from the site, estimated at 12,500 each year, water usage, the environmental and noise impacts were highlighted by council in a request for more information from Bundaberg Sugar.

The council document also said that no approval for extraction that was taking place on the land had been found.

Bundaberg Sugar has 12 months to reply to council's information request.

If the application went ahead, public comment would be sought before approval.

Plans to develop the site impacted the final stages of the Bella Vista Estate, when council rejected the developer's application after objections from Bundaberg Sugar.

Three of the final five stages were rejected by Bundaberg Regional Council, due to their proximity to the site.

But a spokesperson for the estate has vowed to fight on.