I have had calls from young families seeking to put their roots down in Narrabri who have been thrown a curveball.
They no longer know if it is worth building their new home on Jacks Creek Road, now that they could be neighboured with a new coalfield.
Others are not sure if they should invest on Kaputar road, overlooking a new coalfield.
On April 20 submissions will close for comments about two exploration licence applications in the new coalfield called Gorman North. This new area as mapped by the government comes up to the Narrabri cemetery on the Kamilaroi Highway and includes Jacks Creek Road, south, through to the existing underground coal mine.
I would encourage Narrabri Shire people to consider what they would like the future of their shire to look like. Imagine a Hunter Valley landscape along the highway and train line from Baan Baa to Narrabri.
Recently, the stage three expansion to the Narrabri underground was approved. Nine more farms will lose their bores, a few more farms will be bought up to stop the noise and dust impacts.
More coal infrastructure will be built.
At the same time, we promote the natural assets of the shire, our amazing Kaputar range and the rare and sensitive pink slugs, the wild Pilliga State Forest and our agricultural vistas.
These visions are incongruous with extensive coal mining in the more densely populated and more well-travelled and visible areas of the shire.
Now that there is this uncertainty of new exploration areas hanging over these areas, it is hard for locals and new people to town, to make investment decisions and lifestyle decisions.
We have less certainty about if our shire will look and feel like what we want it to look and feel like in the near future.
Less certainty about the availability of bore water.
I encourage you to respond to the government’s call for feedback on these new coal mining exploration areas while you have the opportunity.
Sally Hunter, Boggabri
To order photos from this page click here
