RESIDENTS of the Himalaya estate near Table Top will make a final bid at a public forum tonight to stop an expansion of the Rockwood quarry operated by A.P. Delaney & Co.

The Albury business will also attend the forum at the city chambers at 6pm to argue the expansion is needed to meet local demand for road-making and other engineering projects.

Councillors will not debate the issue tonight but will make their decision later this month.

Himalaya resident Robyn Delaney said yesterday that the estate had several concerns but noise and dust were a continuing problem from the present quarry and its access road.

People at nearby Claremont estate were also worried, she said.

A.P. Delaney & Co has operated the quarry since 1970 and in April applied to the city council for a permit to extract 75,000 cubic metres a year.

This represents an increase of 25,000 cubic metres on the maximum amount set by a 1996 permit given by the former Hume Council before the area became part of Albury city.

The company says it doesn’t want to use any more than the 15 trucks a day permitted already to carry crushed rock.

It claims the impact will be minimal and says there are no homes in the immediate vicinity.

It says its operations are less noisy than the background noise emanating from Norske Skog’s newsprint mill and the nearby Kenilworth quarry.

More than 60 people have petitioned the council, seeking assurances their lifestyle won’t be disrupted further.

Lesli Yule will make a presentation on their behalf tonight, to be followed by a company presentation.

Mrs Yule has cited worries on environmental and medical grounds.

She said in April that residents feared a loss of value in their properties from “environmental and lifestyle degradation” and a change in the rural views.

Blasting and the noise of trucks already affected the estate, which was created to provide people with a rural lifestyle, she said.

A.P. Delaney & Co has insisted there would not be a significant change in operations except that work will proceed on more days of the year.