Battle for Beerburrum

The battle for Beerburrum

The fate of a controversial quarry development at Beerburrum will be decided at the next Sunshine Coast Council meeting this Thursday at Caloundra.

The quarry application – submitted by the Barro Group in 2017 – has stirred a ground-swell of opposition from local residents who formed the Beerburrum Action Group. The residents reject the need for the quarry and highlight the impacts that the quarry and quarry trucks will have on their quiet hamlet.

The group is urging the mayor and councillors to consider the impacts a quarry would have on such things as eco-tourism, with the new and exciting Trail Head development currently under way in Beerburrum.

“The negative impacts of 200 trucks per day thundering through town on tourists and locals who will be coming to Beerburrum to traverse the walking tracks and take advantage of the benefits our environment has to offer, are too great to ignore,” a group spokesperson said.

“The quarry has a life limited to 20 years but the peace and beauty of the national park will go on for generation after generation. Most of us would be aware that two trachyte quarries already exist in our area and one of them has a life expectancy of 50 years.

“Do we really need another one in such close proximity to the two current mines?

“These things need to be very carefully considered when council meets. Should our environment be sacrificed in favour of dust, noisy trucks, noisy crushing machinery and blasting for the next 20 years?

“Our community thinks absolutely not. We all want to protect our environment and develop our town, not see it compromised and ultimately destroyed,” the spokesperson said.

However, in a blow to their cause, council planning staff have recommended that the development be approved at the council meeting with conditions reducing truck movements from more than 200 per day to 126.

Division 1 councillor Rick Baberowski has been on the front foot from day one working with the local community to get the best outcome possible.

“Having now considered the report, the officer recommendations and the community submissions, I am considering moving a motion to refuse the application,” Cr Baberowski told GC&M News.

“I would welcome and expect the Beerburrum community to be in the gallery at the council meeting and I’m preparing my arguments to reflect their well thought through submissions and heartfelt concerns.

“I would add that I strongly agree with them that Beerburrum’s future is best served through developing its truly remarkable natural and social history attributes rather than adding another state sanctioned quarry to the area with all of the longterm impacts that come with it,” he said.

As the matter is one of the first items on the agenda for the day, it is likely to be settled – one way or the other – on Thursday morning.