Shire of Augusta-Margaret River council puts tough conditions on ‘vital’ partly non-compliant lime pit
The Shire of Augusta-Margaret River has been forced to grant retrospective planning approval to a partly non-compliant lime pit that supplies the bulk of the region’s essential sand needed for new homes and projects to combat the housing crisis.
In a long debate at last Wednesday’s council meeting, the relatively new owners of the site off Caves Road near Ellen Brook Road were hauled over the coals about why the pit continued operating outside of its permit.
Caves Road Enterprises chief executive Shane Wormall, who also runs Wormall Civil, said the business was bought several years ago and the permit situation was not immediately clear.
Mr Wormall and planning consultant Dane Gaunt faced a grilling from several councillors on the non-conforming aspects of the operation.
“Why, given the approval from three cells that existed in 1995, why have you gone outside of that approval?” Cr David Binks asked.
Mr Wormall said the previous operators had gone outside of the approved cells.
“The main reason why we continue to do that is there’s different types of products on that site from different parts of it, and if we don’t go outside those original three cells then, well, you’re not going to have any resources because it’s gone,” he said.
Shire president Julia Meldrum asked why a raft of plans needed to adjudicate the retrospective approval were not supplied, including plans governing traffic, rehabilitation, environmental noise and visual assessment plans, as well as dust management.
“There was a deficiency in information,” Ms Meldrum said.
“Why wasn’t the applicant willing to participate in providing those plans to the council for us to make a well-informed decision?”
Mr Gaunt said the site had a long and complicated history and such plans were expensive given the uncertainty around approvals.
“Our approach was to figure out what the parameters of the approval would look like (first),” he said.
Earlier in the meeting, Cloudburst Wine owner Will Berliner outlined his frustrations with the neighbouring pit which he said was affecting him and neighbours with noise, dust and heavy vehicle traffic.
“It’s ballooned in size far beyond anything that’s been imagined,” he said.
“It is a significant health hazard.”
The pit started life before the key 1998 Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge Statement of Planning Policy came into effect and the shire’s planning scheme gave discretion for approving the operation.
However, a key part of the debate was the pit’s prime role in providing materials for construction and smaller businesses in the Capes region, which prevented the need to truck sand in from Harvey.
Mr Wormall said the Augusta-Margaret River shire was the second biggest consumer of the pit’s raw materials.
“Without that pit, this region is in a lot of trouble,” he said.
The final restricted approval has a long list of tough conditions, including reduced truck movements, sparking concerns in the wider industry about security of supply for crucial raw materials.
Cr Ian Earl sought to pass two amendments to allow the operators more hours and vehicles but was unable to get majority support.
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