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Blue = Murray Shire Page 64 Planning & Development Services Committee Meeting –
22/08/2006 (Murray Shire)7.6.4.1 DEPUTATION - PROPOSED NEW
AIRPORTRESOLVED It was resolved that this item be dealt with at this point in
order to receive a deputation from Mr. Greg King and Mr David Van der
Walt from Ascot Capital, Mr. David Pringle from Pindan Pty Ltd and Ms
Leigh Hardingham, Community Consultant from ARID, the time being
11.28am.Mr Greg King, Director of Ascot Capital, introduced Mr David Van
der Walt, Mr. David Pringle and Ms Leigh Hardingham and thanked the
Committee for agreeing to the deputation. He presented a slide show
detailing the location of the proposed airport and the reasoning behind
the proposed relocation of Jandakot Airport to North Dandalup. The slide
show detailed the number of flights in and out of Jandakot and Perth
International Airports daily, weekly and annually and showed the overlap
of the two airports’ air space. Mr. King stated that the overlap area posed majors safety concerns. There is no airspace “overlap”. The Perth airspace lies above
the Jandakot airspace. Mr. King has no credentials to be making these
allegations. Airspace risk analysis, mitigation and management is the
domain of Airservices Australia and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority
who audit them. This is pure scaremongering and is not supported by any
facts. Mr. King stated that the increase in the projected number of flights
up to the year 2015 far exceeded expectations and that Jandakot would in
no way be capable of coping with that number of flights. Movements (the correct terminology for number of flights) are still
not up to the levels seen pre privatization in 1997. According to the
Master Plan Jandakot can handle 514,650 movements per annum. He also stated that when theA380 aircraft started flying into Perth,
Jandakot Airport would have to be shutdown for take off and landing of
the aircraft. As per the JAA press release, anything to do with wake turbulence
issues associated with the A380 is “pure speculation” so this
statement has no basis in fact. Cr Watson-Raston stated that the relocation of the Royal Flying
Doctor Service(RFDS) to North Dandalup was possibly not a good idea. Mr. King stated that the RFDS may be relocated to Perth Airport and
there was also the possibility that it would be flying a jet aircraft. Relocate the RFDS to Perth Airport??? Mix airline traffic with Med
priority flights??! Cr Bessant stated that so far, community consultation regarding
the proposal is seriously lacking and they needed to start as soon as
possible. He stated that exact detail on the location is very vague and
this needs to be identified better that it currently is. Mr. King stated
that the forums will be set up in the next couple of weeks. Ms Hardingham responded to Cr Bessant saying that they needed to get
all the information together before community consultation can take
place and it is only this week that it has been fully scoped. Surely it would have been a good idea to “get all the information
together” before making this proposal? Cr Bessant stated that there were already five airports in the
North Ward. Mr. King stated that the Murray Airfield would have to close and be
consolidated into the proposed airfield. They are having discussions
with the current owners of Murray field regarding this. Where is Murray Airfield? Is this in fact Murray Field? How are
these discussions going I wonder!!!!! Amazing that these people can just
come along out of nowhere and decide to close down other people’s
businesses. Barrie Thomson asked why relocating the airport to the east was
not considered. Mr. King stated that the Darling Ranges and the Escarpment impacted
on that. He also said that the prevailing winds also work well with the
proposed location and that there was serious wind shear issues
associated with an eastern location. Incorrect. Easterly winds cause wind shear to the WEST of the
escarpment! Cr Thomson then asked how the proposed airport will affect the
residents of the Shire of Murray. Mr. King stated that they are working with all the noise studies and
how the noise contours work. They have tried to align the runways away
from the residential areas. Runways should be aligned in accordance with the prevailing winds,
i.e. in this area 06/24 and 12/30. He stated that 85% of the flights are controlled What does this mean? Controlled? Are we then to have 15% of the
flights uncontrolled???? This would be airspace under the General
Aviation Aerodrome procedures, where all flights during tower hours are
controlled. and will be within the area’s buffer of three nautical miles. (**I wonder if these “Property Developers” know anything whatsoever about flying. ** ed) Cr Higgins asked whether they have bought the land yet and was
told no. She then asked about the provision of accommodation if they
expected a lot of tourists and visitors. Mr. Pringle from Pindan Pty Ltd stated that they have enough land for
sufficient accommodation. Is all building work to be carried out by Pindan and not to be put
out to competitive tender? How does this work in with the Trade
Practices Act? Cr Nancarrow asked whether it would be better to put the
accommodation in one of the surrounding towns and also, apart
from jobs, how would the community benefit from the proposal. What jobs? Jobs in aviation require a great deal of training and
long apprenticeships. There are 900 people employed at Jandakot, many of
who have said they will not relocate. Mr. King stated that they would welcome input from Council and
the community on what it would like to see and they would be happy to
contribute in any way. The Director Planning & Development Services,
Mr Mat Selby, asked what is the reaction of the State Government to the
proposal and how does it fit in with the existing planning framework. Mr. King stated that it anticipated providing light industrial areas
as part of the proposal, not heavy industrial. He further stated that
they have engaged all levels of State Government in the process. He didn’t answer the question. See DPI website which states Situated about 12 kilometers south of Perth's CBD, Jandakot Airport
is Western Australia's major General Aviation (GA) airport and one of
the busiest GA airports in the southern hemisphere. The State Government
recognizes Jandakot is a vital piece of infrastructure which cannot be
relocated. See also the extract from the WA planning commission on my response
to briefing notes. The Chief Executive Officer, Mr Neil Leach, asked why, if the
majority of flying is for pilot training, the pilot training could not
be relocated to Merredin to allow Jandakot to keep operating. Mr. King stated that Merredin is too small. Merredin Airport is the property of China Southern West Australian
Flying College and is irrelevant to this debate. Cr Higgins asked how many flights per day there would be ? Mr. King stated that there are approximately 400,000 flights per
annum, And yet they are saying as a primary justification to relocate that
this will increase, why was this not told to the councilors? which would equate to approximately 1,100 flights per day.
Which is less than we have at Jandakot now, so their rationale for
relocating Jandakot has just been contradicted. He further stated that the majority of the flying will be pilot
training which would be conducted within the airport’s buffer zone of
three nautical miles and not flying out over residential areas outside
of that zone. How then do we get to the training area, and depart on
cross-country flights? What about the Landcorp Amarillo development
which will be under the flight path for departures when we have
southwesterly winds? The Manager Planning & Development Services, Mr Mark Jones,
asked whether the project is freehold. Mr. King stated that it is not, but would like to do that and they
are capable of doing that. Not
according to the Airports Act 1996, which states that •
An airport-lessee
company has a statutory obligation to use the
airport site as an airport. •
An airport-lessee
company’s sole business will be to run the airport. He further stated that it will end up being owned by the
Commonwealth. The commonwealth have given no indication that they will agree to
this. See letter from DOTARS. Cr Nancarrow said that they now have to get together with the
community and the Council and come forward with concrete information .
Mr. Mat Selby asked what the timeframe is for them to get the proposal
to Council as it has to formally consider something at Council. It will
need an Amendment. Mr. King stated that it is going to be Commonwealth land and
therefore they can short-circuit some of the issues and processes. See above. And this could mean they could short cut other
procedures leading to a “Brickworks” scenario. The deputation was thanked for presenting their proposal to the Committee and they left the meeting at 12.29pm.Cr B Thomson returned to the meeting, the time being 11.35am.
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