NSW: Court overturns council decision against silica extraction

AAP General News (Australia)
08-16-2000
NSW: Court overturns council decision against silica extraction

A silica mine will go ahead in sand dunes on the New South Wales central coast after
a court yesterday overturned a council's decision not to approve it.

Justice MAHLA PEARLMAN in the Land and Environment Court of NSW has decided there's
no justification for the Port Stephens Council to refuse to consent to the development
proposed by Ceramic Silica Sand Users Association Inc.

The association had applied to the council on June 16, 1999, for development consent
for the extraction of white silica sand from the northern dune at Tanilba, on the Tilligerry
Peninsula.

It appealed to the Land and Environment Court when the council knocked back its application
on December 22, 1999.

The council had argued development consent should be refused because of concerns over
the impact on the groundwater system and potential adverse impacts on the vulnerable wallum
froglet.

AAP RTV gl/ah/et/jn

KEYWORD: SILICA (SYDNEY)

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