But the NSW Department of Planning says such suggested conditions are normally supplied to the Planning Assessment Commission (PAC) before its deliberations.

‘‘Claims that a decision has been made on this project demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding of how the approval process works and which body is ultimately responsible for approvals,’’ a planning department spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the leaked version had been circulated to various government agencies and T4’s proponent, Port Waratah Coal Services (PWCS), for comment.

Regardless, the leaked 28-page document shows the planning department is recommending T4 be approved under broadly similar conditions to the adjacent Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group (NCIG) coal loader when it was approved in 2007.

Hunter Community Environment Centre spokesman John Mackenzie said yesterday that his organisation and others had repeatedly approached the planning department and the Minister for Planning, Brad Hazzard, to talk about T4, only to be told it was the assessment commission, not the government, that would make a decision.

‘‘So we have participated in the process in good faith, believing everyone would have their chance at the PAC hearings, only to find that the decision has already been made, with the PAC just a rubber stamp,’’ Dr Mackenzie said.

‘‘This pre-emptive approval has implications for the entire NSW planning system and the approval of coalmines and other major infrastructure elsewhere in the state.’’

Dr Mackenzie said the environment centre and the Nature Conservation Council wanted the T4 application suspended and a formal inquiry or royal commission held to see whether the commissioners had been coerced or had their assessments pre-empted by the planning department.

At a public forum in Newcastle on Friday, PWCS chief executive Hennie du Plooy complained about delays to T4’s approvals process, now in its fourth year.

On Sunday, he said PWCS ‘‘strongly rejects any suggestion of impropriety in the preparation of draft conditions of approval’’.

Moves to protect bridge

THE potential for a coal ship to hit the Tourle Street road bridge is recognised in draft conditions of approval for the T4 coal loader.

PWCS documents say the Hunter River will be dredged to ‘‘just east’’ of the bridge to accommodate coal ships at the T4 berths.

NSW Planning Department draft conditions say PWCS must obtain ‘‘an independent assessment of the potential for the Tourle Street Bridge to be structurally impacted by a coal carrier ship [directly or by energy transfer through the river bed]’’.

This assessment must include vessel ‘‘stopping distances’’ and ‘‘model the forces transmitted into the river bed stratum’’.

PWCS must also undertake any ‘‘recommended additional mitigation measures to protect the structural integrity’’ of the bridge.