The majority of residents surveyed from the Gloucester region don’t want the Rocky Hill mine project approved.
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Groundswell Gloucester thought it was time the residents where given a chance to have their say about the proposed project, so the group commissioned a telephone survey.
The decision was made based on comments made by Gloucester Resources Limited’s (GRL) chief operating officer, Brian Clifford about the low percentage of submission against the mine.
Related story: Work on the mine continues
Click here for a recent update about GRL’s mine proposal.
On the evening of July 27, an independent market research company, ReachTEL contacted 712 residents across the wider Gloucester region and asked them four questions:
- Do you agree or disagree that the mine should be approved?
- Do you agree or disagree that if the Rocky Hill mine is built that there will be adverse impacts to the Gloucester tourism industry?
- Do you agree or disagree that if the Rocky Hill Mine is built that there will be adverse effects to the health of the Gloucester community?
- Do you agree or disagree that that there should be no new coal mine permits issued within the Gloucester Valley?
Groundswell Gloucester has stated the results show that the community is overwhelmingly against the NSW Government approving GRL’s proposal to build the Rocky Hill coal mine within one kilometre of family homes.
The poll recorded that 73.2 per cent of respondents do not want the mine approved, while 62.4 per cent agreed that there shouldn’t be new coal mine permits issued in the Gloucester valley.
The majority opinion was that the mine would adversely affect Gloucester’s tourism and the health of the community, with 58.1 per cent agreeing that the mine would have a negative affect on tourism and 63.1 per cent agreeing there would be health issues.
“This poll shows that the Gloucester community has had enough and the government and local members of Parliament will ignore these results at their peril,” Groundswell member, John Watts said.
“More than 200 people recently attended a public meeting in Gloucester and voted unanimously to tell the government that it must act to stop this flawed proposal.”
In the public meeting, called by Groundswell on July 13, the resolution was passed unanimously (with one abstention) for a call on the Berejiklian Government to take immediate action to prevent the proposed Rocky Hill coal mine being approved and to rescind all exploration licences currently held by Gloucester Resources Limited.
Related story: Complete opposition to the Rocky Hill mine
Mr Watts said that the poll simply makes the call on the State government more “compelling”.
“This poll shows that the community overwhelmingly does not want a 220 metre deep, dirty and polluting coal mine on the doorstep of the township,” he said.
GRL has been contacted by the Gloucester Advocate for comment on the survey results, but had not responded at the time of print.