From the Newcastle Herald, 14th March 2003

Greens push for inquiry - by Carly Hennessy

THE $30 million Hunter Economic Zone will face another hurdle today when visiting Greens MP Ian Cohen calls for an inquiry into the development's approval process. Documents obtained under Freedom of Information legislation will be used to question the rigour of the approval process, a Friends of Tumblebee spokesman told the Herald yesterday.

Developers have estimated stage one of the project will create 90 jobs and when finished might employ up to 10,000 people. The Tumblebee group is also querying whether the access road, approved by Cessnock City Council in December, is legal.

But the legal wrangling over an access road to the Tomalpin development would not hold up its progress, Cessnock Council promised yesterday. Council general manager Colin Cowan said the developers had not yet applied for a construction certificate.

Developer Hardie Holdings general manager Matthew Somers said the group was still doing planning and still talking to several firms about investing in the area.

The legal row began when Friends of Tumblebee, a group opposed to the development, demanded the council rescind its approval for an access road through the development known as the Hunter Employment Zone. Last month the Herald reported that councillors labelled the road as either "the road to nowhere" or the "road to jobs" in a spirited debate over its approval.

Tumblebee spokesman James Ryan says the approval should not have been granted because sections of the land involved were named as containing endangered species. But Mr Cowan said the council was unaware some of the land, namely stands of Redgum forest, were gazetted in parliament as endangered. He said if legal advice and the council's investigations found the approval was given after the forest's gazettal, the application process would have to be repeated.