Lantrak take council to court over New Hope mine 'refusal'

National waste company Lantrak is taking Ipswich City Council to court over its refusal to approve a development application for a landfill at the New Hope mine

OPPOSITION: Willowbank Area Residents' Group president George Hatchman says there are concerns from his community about a proposal to turn a coal mine into a landfill. Picture: Helen Spelitis

EXCLUSIVE:

NATIONAL waste company Lantrak is taking Ipswich City Council to court over its refusal to approve a development application for a landfill at the New Hope coal mine at Jeebropilly.

Lantrak's proposal was to use the mine's voids to store 30 million cubic metres of building waste, and a limited amount of restricted waste over a 30- to 50-year lifetime.

The Jeebropilly mine, about 10km from Ipswich, will stop extracting coal by December.

The application was scrutinised by state government departments and received 250 submissions against its approval.

Ipswich City Council had until September 13 to approve an extension to the application. The council did not make a decision before deadline, resulting in it being deemed a refusal. Lantrak is now seeking to overturn it in the Planning and Environment Court.

Willowbank Area Residents' Group president George Hatchman said if Lantrak was successful, it would devastate the people of Willowbank.

"Many locals are deeply concerned about the impact the dump would have on traffic," Mr Hatchman said.

"By Lantrak's own estimates, the dump would result in an additional 160 trucks a day using an already congested section of the highway from Yamanto to the Amberley RAAF Base. That's an additional 14 trucks an hour and another truck every four minutes.

Lock the Gate Alliance's Rick Humphries said New Hope should be forced to rehabilitate its mine voids.

"At Jeebropilly New Hope is attempting to avoid the cost of rehabilitating the site by selling it to a landfill company," he said.

An Ipswich City Council spokesman said the application was the subject of a planning appeal.

"As a result, the decision will be made by court processes," he said.

"The appeal was lodged on the basis that as a decision had not been made within the statutory timeframes, the applicants deemed it to be refused by the council."

People who made submissions can also choose to become part of the appeal process.

Lantrak was contacted for comment, but did not respond in time for publication.