Primbee residents protest bid to bring back slag dump DA at Korrongulla Swamp

At a meeting on Saturday, residents said they were worried about the landowner's bid to spend another 15 years to "complete" rehabilitating the land, which was formerly a dump site for slag from the now-defunct Port Kembla Copper Smelter.

The work appears likely to include filling in the swamp, which adjoins a wetland that is part of the Wollongong Botanic Garden.

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Owner Mimosa Rehabilitations Pty Ltd is not saying what materials it intends to bring in to "emplace" at the site and residents are worried it could be building waste, coal wash or worse.

Residents say they have been told it would be waste material of some variety.

Primbee resident Charlie Owen said there had been "no transparency whatsoever", nor any consultation with the community about the plans now before Wollongong City Council.

He said heavy vehicles bringing fill material in would "unscrew" the capping soil that has been layered on to cover up the slag.

"Filling in the swamp, if they did that, the overflow of any water runoff whatsoever from the property would then go directly into the wetlands which is owned by the botanical gardens," he said.

"From there it would finish up in the lake, so that's totally detrimental to everybody else.

"If they were to leave the property as it is now, just with minimal maintenance to cover up what copper slag has become open to the weather, and just maintain it ... that would be the best outcome for everybody in a local area."

Mr Owen said there was a lot of mental angst in the Primbee community with the defunct DA being brought back from the dead, and that 150 people signed a submission to the council asking them to reject the new plans.

"Residents are absolutely devastated," he said.

"They have been able to live their lives and enjoy the view from the back of their properties, and there has been nothing to upset them, then all of a sudden this happens and has turned their lives upside down.

"Some of the people are extremely anxious and it's affecting their health even now."

He said residents were concerned that new work at the site, and filling in the swamp, would create environmental damage and affect their health with airborne contaminants. he said they also had concerns about their property values, and damage to their house foundations with a large number of heavy vehicle movements.

Mimosa argues it should be allowed to extend a 1982 planning permission, which allowed sand extraction and slag dumping, until 2038.

Its DA states if the land was left as is, this would "lead to a poor planning outcome", and even adverse impacts on the environment.

"The applicant intends to carry out work to bring the site to a state of closure, which eliminates the hazard posed by infrastructure and the open body of water, presently occupying the site as well as minimising potentially serious adverse impact on human health and the environment that continue to increase on the site," it says.

A summary of a pre-lodgement meeting between Mimosa and Wollongong City Council shows the council asking for details on the materials involved, works intended, environmental monitoring and other factors, with few details provided.

"Council does not immediately see any benefit to the Wollongong community or environment in extending the time period in which to rehabilitate the site," the council is quoted as saying.

"No persuasive benefits have been identified in the pre-lodgement documentation."

Mimosa has not responded to enquiries from the Mercury.

It says a new DA is not needed and a modification of the old one should be simply extended via a modification.

A modification would mean no new environmental assessment reports, contamination plans or other modern planning requirements need be done.

The swamp, which is adjacent to a conservation area managed by Wollongong City Council, was used as a slag dump until the copper smelter closed in 2023.

Then, residents were in an uproar after earthmoving equipment arrived on site and trees were being moved on Boxing Day 2022. The timing of this work raised suspicions and after the city council and the Environment Protection Authority got involved, the work stopped.

It started again before council officers reached agreement with Mimosa for work to stop.

But nine months after the Boxing Day work was stopped, Wollongong City Council has been unable to say whether the works taking place at that time were allowed under the existing Development Approval.

Mr Owen said a shed has been built on land neighbouring the site, and earthmoving equipment has arrived in preparation for works not yet approved.

"From the population or the residents point of view, the impacts are through the visual, health, and financial aspects for the local community because of dust issues," he said.

"The visual aspect - and loss of property values through the location, this work adjacent to a residential area.

"We've got three preschools, primary school, an Aboriginal aged care unit plus your general residents.

"The best thing that can be done here is that, you know, basically they walk away and leave it."