The vote followed a passionate appeal from the residents on Sandham Road and surrounding villages on the grounds of road safety, property devaluation and the possibility of contamination. 

"I've sat here tonight and listened to these residents. They don't want it, and I'm sure we don't want it," Cr Joe Smith said. 

Cr Wayne McAndrew said he knew "going back 40 years" the council had rejected "biosolids in the Sunny Corner forest". 

"We've rejected the burning of medical waste… and had massive community meetings opposing the dumping of Sydney waste in old open cuts around the Baal Bone area and the Lidsdale area," he said. 

Cr Steve Ring said, according to the Department of Planning and Environment, there was no legal requirement to backfill the site for environmental reasons, as it had been a sand quarry.

"This company has purchased this land with the pure intent of being paid to take virgin excavated material from Sydney," he said. 

"I don't believe we should support it. I believe we should go and look at the site to properly understand what is there."

Council's objections will be lodged with the Joint Regional Planning Panel, which will have final say on the proposal.

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Bell resident Eva Gaddes, a bush fire volunteer, spoke at council to highlight the concerns of residents at the loss of the quarry as a valuable water source for fire-fighting. 

"If we can have overhead protection from the helicopters, dipping their buckets into the quarry water source, which is enormous… there's a chance that we may prevent fires, that are a regular occurrence, impacting further down the mountains," she said. 

"The loss of houses in the 2013 fires was horrendous down the mountains.

"We couldn't get it out, but we did our best. The helicopters did dip their buckets in there and it was a great help."

In her presentation to the meeting, Sandham Road resident Kaye Whitbread called for Lithgow City Council to stand united with Blue Mountains Council in objecting to the proposal to send a "powerful message". 

"I have to ask why is this stuff being transported 140km or so… and then down a little bush track to be buried in a hole in the ground?" she asked. 

"If it's good clean soil then use it in Sydney."

Mrs Whitbread said current projects were reworking excavated soil back into the contour banks, landscaping and drainage works. 

"This council doesn't send its waste to Sydney, so why should we accept their rubbish?"

Mount Wilson resident Richard Beattie said "the people's concerns on Sandham Road and the potential for serious accidents… must be very high in council's considerations".