POLL: Shire airs grievances with mine agreements

APPROVAL of the Cobbora Coal Project (CCP) was considered a fait accompli by a small chunk of the crowd at the NSW Planning Assessment Commission meeting in Dunedoo this week.

But the crowd members surveyed by the Daily Liberal were far less certain that the proposed mine would be developed and differed in their opinions as to whether it should.

Dunedoo retiree and community volunteer Lynn Kearney and grazier Sally Dent were among the people who spoke to the Daily Liberal at Tuesday's meeting that they hoped would fill information gaps.

By late morning Ms Kearney was sounding frustrated because of speakers pushing what she considered to be personal and political issues.

"I thought today we would come away from it having learned much more than we have about the mine," she said.

"I think there is a lot of ignorance there with people who are for or against it.

"I don't think they fully understand it."

Ms Kearney is not among the undecided when it comes to the proposed mine.

"I'm hoping very much that it goes forward," she said.

"I can see the benefits of it from the employment side, and the companies inject a lot back into communities.

"They don't just come in and dig a hole and go home."

Ms Kearney said "little towns are fading out, they really are".

"Dunedoo will grow from it," she said.

Ms Dent, a neighbour of the CCP site, fell into the "concerned resident" category at the meeting.

"I think the uncertainty of the whole project has impacted on Dunedoo, in particular," she said.

"There's been a really awful undertone that this is never going to get up and in the interim everything's falling apart."

Ms Dent said businesses were suffering because of the departure of about 90 people from the district after the sale of 48,500 hectares of land to CCP proponent, state-owned Cobbora Holding Company (CHC) .

"You've also got undecided land management of that huge acreage out there and I think people are concerned about what's going to happen in the future," she said.

Ms Dent, who complained that CHC had largely shut down communications with the community, said working in the Hunter Valley helped determine her position on CCP.

"To be really honest, I don't see any advantages to a coal mine," she said.

Dunedoo resident and deputy mayor of Warrumbungle Shire Murray Coe was among the 41 registered speakers at the meeting seeking feedback on the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure's assessment of the CCP, recommending its approval subject to conditions.

Speaking "mostly as a resident", he said the CCP "must go forward".

Steve Loane, general manager of Warrumbungle Shire that's home to about 90 per cent of the mine site, used the word "certainly" when asked if approval would be granted.

"But I don't know if it will be developed," he said.

Commissioners present at the meeting, Paul Forward and David Johnson, will decide whether to approve or refuse the project after reviewing feedback from it, previously-lodged submissions and the department's assessment.

The state government has opted to sell or lease the CCP, inherited from its predecessor.