On Monday, the Land and Environment Court held an on-site inspection and began hearing The Mac Services Group’s appeal to develop the $26 million mining village.   

The appeal came about after the Western Joint Regional Planning Panel rejected The Mac’s development application in October 2012. The Panel’s rejection was based around Mid-Western Regional Council successfully arguing temporary workers’ accommodation could be defined as “tourist and visitor accommodation” -a prohibited use in the rural zoned site. The Mac has previously said it will be the purpose the accommodation serves, not the physical act of providing accommodation, which will give the development its character. 

Evidence before the Land and Environment Court on Monday suggested Gulgong residents are less concerned with zoning details and more worried about impacts on their historic, volunteer-driven town.

About 100 protesting residents lined the corner of Black Lead Lane and Cope Road on Monday before Land and Environment Court Commissioner, Susan Dixon, arrived for the site inspection.

Protestors were told taking part in the site inspection would be too difficult for Court staff to manage and it was best to return to Gulgong RSL where evidence would be heard.

Black Lead Lane resident, Giselle Bell, spoke at the hearing and accepted Gulgong was a mining town but needed “sustainable, normal growth”.

She said the Gulgong public should not be put at a disadvantage for an “exercise in economic benefit” and described The Mac Gulgong’s social impact statement as “laughable”. She also claimed no immediate neighbours to the project were interviewed by The Mac to explain the development.

Mrs Bell said Council was right to reject the mining village because they should be encouraging people and families to live locally, not temporarily.

She said families can and want to live in the Mid-Western region and cited her family as an example as her husband works at Wilpinjong coal mine.

Local jeweller and Gulgong resident for 29 years, Chris Pearson described the historic mining town as a “cultural centre” with a “unique and idyllic lifestyle” that would be upset by the development.

“We are not anti-miners, we welcome them under the right circumstances,” he said.

He spoke about Gulgong’s remarkable effort to establish a world-renowned ceramics festival among other achievements and implored the Commissioner to consider the wording of Council’s Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) and Development Control Plans (DCPs) as a “finer point”.

“You can’t argue that this development would no way enhance Gulgong’s standing on the world stage,” Mr Pearson said.

The Mac Gulgong has previously said Council’s Temporary Workers’ Accommodation DCP should be given no weight and, even under Council’s characterisation, the land use is permissible under the Draft Comprehensive LEP.