CEO gets permission to sign helicopter lease

After a long debate, Central Coast councillors have given CEO David Farmer permission to negotiate and execute a lease for a helicopter business to set up at Warnervale Airport.

Nighthawks Aviation approached Council – as a matter of urgency –  for a lease for a helicopter business at Warnervale Airport.

“The business has indicated that, without agreement on an urgent basis, it will relocate its proposed development to another state,” Council said.

“This could be to the detriment of future aviation-related business on the Central Coast.”

The finalised Masterplan for the airport is expected to be ready for councillors’ consideration in early 2025.

The staff report said the only strategic reason why a decision might not be made was if Council were of a view that the airport should not continue to operate at its current location over the long term. 

But councillors were divided.

Councillor Jane Smith said she was staggered that staff would recommend the lease without doing the due diligence first.

“Let’s get the information and have a sensible conversation – there could be a range of options and let’s get the best outcome for the community,” she said.

She said there was a conservation agreement to be signed for the surrounding Porters Creek Wetland and a question needed to be asked about why that had not gone forward when the Council, under administration, had allowed the airport activities to continue.

Councillor Belinda Neal said she was deeply concerned by the proposal coming before the Masterplan.

“The truth is very little is going to happen between now and when we get the Masterplan,” she said.

“The right process is to wait for the Masterplan to come before us.”

Councillor Kyle MacGregor wanted more information.

“We are supposed to be the governing board here and we haven’t even given any direction on what we want in a lease,” he said.

Councillor Doug Eaton said if a decision was not made that night, the risk was the business could go elsewhere.

He said the proponent would spend $10M and up to 50 high tech well paid jobs would be created.

The councillors took a 10 minute break during the debate to discuss their options with their factional colleagues.

In the end, the vote came down to five Liberals and three Team Central Coast councillors (eight councillors) voting for the CEO to go ahead with negotiations and to sign the lease while the five Labor and two independents (seven councillors) voted against it.

They had asked that the CEO report back to Council and for the councillors to make a decision on whether or not to sign the lease.

Under the adopted motion, the councillors will see the lease at least 15 days before it is executed and a summary of the due diligence.

Commercially sensitive details were not included in the report to councillors but it outlined preliminary assessment and next steps.

“Initial advice is that there is no inherent incompatibility between fixed wing activities services and rotating-wing/vertical take-off activities,” the report stated.

“There are already helicopter-based activities at Central Coast Airport on a day-to-day basis. 

“As well, the airport is used for rotating-wing emergency services purposes during natural disasters. 

“Whether all necessary CASA approvals have been obtained to create a full-scale helicopter hub still needs to be independently verified.”

Council said that sufficient land has been identified to accommodate the immediate request.

“The indicative lease area on offer is 10,000 sq m (1 hectare) however the amount of land that is offered for lease may be greater than this depending on the outcome of commercial negotiations and also on the time at which the land is required to be actively developed and used.

“Additional land is expected to become available for a helicopter hub over time, pending the adoption of the long-term airport Masterplan.”

Mayor Lawrie McKinna said after the meeting that the possibility of securing a tenant for the airport was a “great opportunity”.

“Nighthawks first put in an expression of interest in December last year but it all went quiet for a while because the Masterplan was not yet done,” he said.

“But we then heard that the company has been offered some land in Melbourne and that’s why there was a bit of urgency.

“Staff will do due diligence to see if the company is fit and ready to take up a long-term lease.

“It’s not about Council having to spend money – if there was any big cost Council would back out.

“And a lease would not affect the proposed Masterplan- it would not impact the runway.”

McKinna said the benefits of granting the lease included the availability of 50 high-end jobs in the region.

The move could be timely with Newcastle University possibly to introduce an Aviation degree, he said.

Merilyn Vale and Terry Collins