Airport masterplan on exhibition

A masterplan for the development of Warnervale Airport will go on public exhibition this week for 60 days.

The plan recommends upgrading the aircraft landing area (ALA) which currently has no Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) status to a Code 2B standard aerodrome under CASA.

This would entail widening and strengthening the runway but keeping it at its current length.

The wingspan of aircraft it could accommodate would be less than 24 metres.

This would allow the airport to accommodate a wider array of aircraft up to an initial maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of 10,000kg.

These include: the four-seat single engine Cessna 172; the eight-seat Mahindra Airvans, which is a utility aircraft designed for operations in the Australian Outback; the two or four-seater Piper PA-28 Warrior and the twin-turboprop Beechcraft Super King Air 200, which can seat maximum of nine passengers.

The plan includes future provision for parallel taxiways on both sides of the runway to service existing and future aviation activities.

Passenger services are not envisaged in the foreseeable future but the plan says it would be prudent to reserve land for this purpose and includes a site on the west side of the runway.

A proposed Porters Creek Wetland Stewardship, which had been paused when Central Coast Council went into administration, will now proceed and is outside the masterplan’s footprint.

However, feedback on the stewardship will be part of the feedback sought during the masterplan’s public exhibition.

Four speakers addressed the public forum prior to the Council meeting on December 12.

Andrew Smith from the Central Coast Aero Club, which has operated on the site for more than 45 years, said the plan was not just about expanding the airport’s infrastructure; it was about embracing sustainable growth, enhancing education, and bolstering the local economy.

“Over the past eight years, we’ve witnessed remarkable growth at the organisation I represent, the Central Coast Aero Club,” he said.

“The club, which was awarded the coveted Aero Club of the Year award by the national regulator for 2022, has experienced a staggering 300 per cent increase in both staff numbers and flying activity.

“Such growth is indicative of our region’s heavy interest in aviation and its potential as a driver of economic progress.”

Smith said the world was currently in a state of very high demand in the aerospace sector – airlines, general aviation and maintenance operators were experiencing unprecedented demand.

“In short, there has never been a better time for our youth to consider a career in the aviation sector,” he said.

“A recent report by Boeing, the Pilot and Technician Outlook 2023-2042, says commercial aviation will need some 1. 5 million pilots and maintenance technicians over the next 20 years.

“Currently, that demand cannot be met with existing training pathways,” Smioth said.

“With the Western Sydney Airport about to heavily restrict the airspace in and out of Bankstown Airport, Warnervale represents a massive opportunity for the Central Coast to reap the benefits of this surging demand.”

Journalist Jackie Pearson spoke on behalf of the Friends of Porters Creek Wetland Group and said she had been told by Council’s media department that she could not ask questions about the airport when she had her usual interview with Administrator Hart the next day as it was a conflict of interest.

So Pearson asked a series of questions as her speech.

“Why the urgency? It has bemused me that the need for an airport masterplan has been a prominent agenda item since 2021,” Pearson said.

“In the midst of the financial crisis the need to spend ratepayers’ money on expanding a facility that already cost ratepayers to sustain, didn’t seem to add up as a high priority.

“Surely this matter can wait until we have an elected Council?”

She also questioned why the community had not been involved earlier.

“The masterplan document history shows it has been in circulation since June but is only ready for community input now, over the Christmas holiday and busy return-to-school period,” she said.

She also asked why so much “important detail” was missing from the masterplan, including ecological assessments.

“We are shown a map of a proposed conservation area but there is no information about the future of Porters Creek Wetland,” Pearson said.

“It is the region’s largest freshwater wetland, a backup water supply during drought and the lungs of the Tuggerah Lakes, Wyong River, Porters Creek etc.

“Wetlands are now known to be critical for extracting and storing carbon emissions.

“Now we have two big blue blobs to the west and east of the current ALA earmarked as either additional wetland or additional industrial land, pending how much demand there is for this new general aviation hub.

“Porters Creek Wetland is already suffering death by a thousand cuts.”

Pearson also asked how much “all this is going to cost and who is going to pay”.

The strategic objective of the masterplan is to develop the Central Coast Airport into a regional general aviation industry hub serving the Sydney, Central Coast and Hunter regions.

“The draft masterplan allows for the opportunity to expand employment activities, encourage greater tourism and has been developed in consideration of the important ecological constraints surrounding the airport lands and Warnervale Employment Zone (WEZ),” Council says.

The public consultation has two focus areas; one for the broad community to have its say and a second aviation consultation process to be undertaken by an independent commercial advisory specialist.

“The purpose of the market sounding will provide greater certainty to the level, type and indicative timing of interest by suitable commercial operators,” Council says.

“This will inform the potential to take up appropriately zoned land in the airport precinct to undertake aviation related activities.”

These commercial activities may include hangarage, aircraft maintenance, charter operations, pilot training, aircraft sales and leasing, airport-related intermodal logistics, research and development.

Minister for the Central Coast David Harris said the masterplan finally “gets the balance right” regarding the future of the airport.

“Over the years we’ve had the two extremes, from closing the airport down to expanding it into a jet airport, neither of which was viable,” he said.

“It is a resource the majority of people think we should keep and this plan finally puts forward a very balanced approach.

“There is no extension to the runway and the wetlands surrounding (the airport) are protected.

“It means we can grow a general aviation industry for smaller planes and hopefully return some economic value not just to Council, but to the Central Coast more broadly.”

Merilyn Vale