Boggabri Business and Community Progress Association president John Shaw said the town was becoming a thoroughfare for Whitehaven workers living in Gunnedah.

He wants the company to work with the town to encourage workers to live in Boggabri, rather than being "drive-in, drive-out workers".

"We want to see Whitehaven people living in our town and supporting our shops," Mr Shaw said. "The fact Whitehaven moved its headquarters to Gunnedah hasn't helped. They don't have to advise people Gunnedah is the place to set up shop."

Mr Shaw said the community felt Whitehaven was not "being a good neighbour" and failed to support Boggabri the same way it did Gunnedah.

"We aren't asking them to fund a town hall,” he said.

“But arrangements that are obviously going to benefit the Whitehaven workforce in Boggabri, such as facilities in the schools or local businesses, I suggest they should consider.”

Whitehaven said it had been a big supporter of Boggabri over the years, and committed more than $1m to infrastructure and service upgrades through its Voluntary Planning Agreement with council.

“Boggabri has seen plenty of improvements as a result, including on critical projects such as upgrading local water supply infrastructure,” a spokesman said.

“We’ve donated nearly $3000 to varying causes for the Boggabri community in the past 12 months, and, importantly, we’ve approved every request for funding that has met our health, education and whole-of-community benefit criteria during this period. The message here is that we’re always open to considering further contributions, particularly where these ideas come from local residents, who are best placed to tell us about what the important local priorities are."