WHETHER communities agree with mines opening in their localities or not, councils are preparing for the influx of workers expected to permanently settle in their towns.
Mudgee is keeping up with the times, with council signing off on new developments to meet the expected population growth.
Mid-Western Regional Council economic development officer Julie Robertson said to cope with Mudgee’s predicted 35 per cent growth by 2020, 1000 new homes had been approved for development.
The growth can be attributed to the region’s growing mining industry, where 1800 operational jobs have been created and another 2500 construction jobs associated with those housing projects.
Ms Robertson said council approval of the housing projects would alleviate affordable housing pressure.
“There are four existing coal mines, all of which are undergoing their own expansion phase, which is doubling production and doubling employment, but as well as that we have up to five new projects in the pipeline in the next three to five years,” she said.
“In addition to that we also have wind farms, a gold mine and a silver mine, so it’s fair to say we’re flat out at the moment.”
Ms Robertson said council was working to get new land released and even more homes built, but said they were conscious of the region’s other thriving industries and would make decisions sensitive to their needs.
“We have to make sure we nurture and look after the wine industry, the agricultural industry, we’ve got superfine wool, we’ve got honey, we’ve got horse racing – all those things are important to us and we support that through marketing and promotional efforts through holding major events like festivals in the region,” Ms Robertson said.
“When the miners get to town they realise the opportunities for their children and for their partners to work as well, because of the diversity in the economy, so it’s adding to all areas of our economy.”
Ms Robertson said a number of businesses in the region were already expanding in preparation for the expected growth.
However, 28 kilometres south-east of Mudgee an application was lodged with the State government last December for a silver mine 2.5km from the village of Lue, infuriating locals.
Lue Action Group chairman John Loneragan said he feared Lue would meet a similar fate to Wollar, 48km north-east of Mudgee, which in 2006 saw a population of 400 dwindle to 20 because of mine noise and impact.
He said Lue wouldn’t be expanding its business district or building new homes like Mudgee because “nobody would want to live here with the mine right on top of them”.
“We’re not against mining per se, just this particular mine,” he said.
New research, conducted by Crosby Textor, was released by the NSW Minerals Council last week and figures showed a large majority of people in NSW supported mining.
“The research shows 70 per cent of people surveyed said they supported mining in NSW and almost 90pc of respondents agreed mining was an important industry for the future of our State,” said NSW Minerals Council chief executive officer Stephen Galilee.
“Support levels were fairly consistent across the community, with 79pc of Liberal/National voters supporting mining and 73pc of Labor voters indicating their support,” he said.
“The research also found that 83pc of respondents believe the mining industry is a major contributor to the NSW economy and 76pc believe the NSW mining industry has a long-term future in NSW.”
He said 60pc agreed that mining companies supported local communities.