In the final day of cross-examination in the ongoing Noosa Council v Kin Kin Quarry case, the only remaining witness, quarry operator Martin Cordwell took to the stand.
Noosa Council’s barrister Mitchel Batty questioned Mr Cordwell at Maroochydore Planning and Environment Court on Tuesday 19 April.
The case continued in front of presiding Judge Gary Long, The public gallery was filled with hinterland residents.
The matter related to Council’s allegations set out by their barrister Mr Batty and associate Susan Hedge, that the application was filed by council for the relief for the community from haulage trucks, in five areas.
The five areas related to allegations of the quarry’s non-compliance of its Quarry Management Plan (QMP) in failing to avoid truck convoying, covering of loads, operating hours and use of quarry trucks during school bus hours, and the allegation the impact of the quarry’s intensification of work constitutes a material change of use.
Mr Batty asked Mr Cordwell why he had acquired the quarry without knowing the output estimate by the previous quarry owners, the Neilsens.
“I didn’t get their books,“ Mr Cordwell said.
“I felt like it crossed a line in those terms of conversations. It’s unprofessional to speak about that. I knew it was going to be viable. We now have over 40 to 50 products that we create at the quarry.“
Mr Batty then asked whether the quarry now had a greater number of trucks driving to and from the quarry, due to the business acquiring main roads certification, allowing the business to sell to more customers.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that there are more trucks. We’re certainly busier,“ Mr Cordwell said before Judge Long reminded the gallery to remain quiet.
When discussing a certain type of truck, Mr Batty asked whether it was the case that all of those types of trucks in the area came from Cordwell operations, as there was nothing else in the locality of a similar nature.
“There’s several trucks and trucking companies in that area,“ Mr Cordwell replied.
“There are definitely a lot of other bits and bobs that go out there. But I would say there is nothing else on Sheppersons Lane (Kin Kin).“
Mr Batty then asked the quarry operator when he became aware of Noosa Council counting trucks to investigate the quarry.
“It was a bit of a funny one,“ he said.
“I didn’t assume that it was going to manifest into something like this. Council have had a heavy involvement with the quarry since we took it over.
“It’s hard to pinpoint when they began monitoring our truck movements. Perhaps by the end of 2020, I’m not sure. When we had our roundtable meetings it was raised that they were putting truck counters in.“
When asked whether any trucks changed their route due to the truck counters, Mr Cordwell said they couldn’t force any truck driver to deviate from their route.
“Why can’t you force a truck driver to change routes?“ Mr Batty asked.
Mr Cordwell confirmed they could change routes when required if there was a safety reason or another issue such as roadworks,.
The pair then went back and forth discussing estimates around the amount of trucks on the road, limitations, tonnage output, the quarry’s potential desire to increase extraction, and the maximum extraction figure that they aspired to sell.
“Do you accept that the current average for trucks per day is in the mid 70s?“ Mr Batty asked.
Mr Cordwell said, “I would’ve thought it would be lower than that. I wouldn’t be able to agree with it without cross checking our data. It would be hard to knuckle down on the averages. Some days we’ve only had five trucks during the rain. We’ve got nine trucks with the GPS and our objective is five loads per day. We don’t always start them from the quarry.“
Mr Batty then replied, “Do you accept that the potential maximum could be 288 truck movements per day?“
“I think some days we could do that,“ he confirmed.
Cordwells is expanding their concrete business, with their Caloundra Plant now fully operational.
“The demand for quarry material on the Sunshine Coast is unbelievable,“ Mr Cordwell said.
“There aren’t enough trucks on the Sunshine Coast at the moment to fill the demand.“
Digging into school bus operation hours, Mr Cordwell said they did a “pretty good job“ at minimising truck usage during the hours of 6.30am to 9am and 3.30pm to 4pm.
“I think it’s pretty clear that we have contractors that require products in the morning,“ he said.
“As Mr Palmer said, sometimes we may need to run a load here and there to the concrete plants. Some of them require more rock than others. We manage it so we don’t need to run the trucks during school hours to our concrete plants.“
Mr Batty asked, “On one hand you’re saying that limiting Cordwell’s movements during school bus hours would be crippling, but previously you said it was at a minimum?“
“I think it could potentially cripple our business,“ Mr Cordwell replied.
“If you were to say we can’t run any trucks during school bus hours, then we can’t service our customers, and the customers would be going to knock on the door of our competitors.“
When asked why their complaint line in the Quarry Management Plan was a phone number for the previous owner rather than Cordwells, Mr Cordwell said it was a “long story“.
“But we have a comprehensive complaints register in place. We’ve updated Noosa Council with our complaints register process. On the Noosa Council website there’s a whole section on how to contact us to make a complaint.“
Mr Batty then asked if Mr Cordwell was aware of a number of complaints from residents about trucks entering the quarry prior to the approved operating hours.
“There was one Saturday that I think two trucks rolled in. We certainly didn’t load those trucks before 7am,“ he said.
“It was a misdemeanour of them thinking it was a weekday rule, not a Saturday rule. They got re-inducted and re-educated. There’s no other occasion that has happened that I’m aware of.
“The community raised concerns for the Pomona Markets. We very rarely run on Saturday, depending on demand. Sometimes we have to get it done but we certainly aren’t going through Pomona.“
When asked whether he accepted that the local roads with steep, winding sections and three single lane bridges were challenging for truck drivers, Mr Cordwell said he didn’t think so.
“I think there’s a good portion of the range that is winding. I speak to my drivers personally. My feedback is that they don’t mind driving the range,“ he said.
“They are a controlled speed and they can get around the corners with no drama. A lot of them prefer and like driving out there.“
Mr Batty then questioned whether he agreed that the resident’s affidavit raised concerns about the quarry truck drivers.
“Some of them say they have cut corners and driven over white lines… That residents feel unsafe and have nearly caused accidents,“ Mr Batty said.
Mr Cordwell replied, “It’s hard to pinpoint which situation.“
Following Tuesday’s proceedings, Counsel for both parties will exchange written closing submissions ahead of the final day of the trial on Friday 17 June 2022, where each side will present their closing submissions to His Honour, Judge Long.
