Residents unaware of noise plan changes: group

The City of Busselton has come under fire from the Airport Residents Group regarding plans to change the Busselton Margaret River Regional Airport Noise Management Plan.

The public comment period for the draft plan, which would see unrestricted hours of operation for the airport, finished last week.

Airport Residents Group chair Greg Chapman said the group believed the draft plan was conducted without proper consultation with residents who would be affected by the changes.

He said unrestricted hours of operation for the airport would be a nuisance for those under the flight path.

“I live right under the flight path and 2km from the end of the runway, and the noise is horrible, especially when there are flights at 6am,” he said.

“If this plan gets approved and the airport can operate 24 hours a day, the community will be affected at a much larger scale.”

Mr Chapman said some residents were not aware of changes to the plan.

“Of the people I’ve contacted, 90 per cent had no idea about the changes in the draft noise management plan or the public comment period, and those people will be directly impacted,” he said.

City of Busselton director of community and commercial services Naomi Searle said the City had undertaken an extensive community consultation process.

She said the City had corresponded with 87 residential properties in the immediate vicinity of the airport, offering one-on-one meetings to address concerns.

“The proposed Noise Management Plan allows for unrestricted hours of operation at the Busselton Margaret River Airport, however, City approval is required for light and general aviation operators, as well as for charter and regular passenger transport services,” she said.

“It is not envisaged that there will be significant aircraft movements outside of the current hours of operations, in fact the proposed hours is to facilitate potential interstate services.”

Resident John Wilkins said he currently had aeroplanes flying 500ft above his house at 11pm at night, which he believed would only worsen once the changes were approved.

He said the changes would also continue to affect land values in the area.

Ms Searle said the City had undertaken noise modelling to ensure residents wouldn’t be further affected by the proposed increased operating.

However, Mr Chapman said residents engaged a private noise engineer, whose tests showed levels were higher than the 65 decibels the City claimed.