Back in the early 90s, we were applying to put a commercial heliport in Parramatta, a sub-city of Sydney, and about 11nm from the main airport, clear of controlled airspace.
The site was unused empty space next to a trotting track and the Parramatta Speedway. Members of the Labor Party (at the time fighting to get a heliport in Darling Harbour shut down - which they did) were associated with the trotters and didn't want the heliport, so they convinced the local (Labor) council to require stringent noise tests, pollution tests, and all sorts of chicanery to keep us out. The noise tests were done by an expensive independent specialist, and the council specified where the microphones had to be placed. So we did.
The tests showed that the noise output from the gravel crusher on the north side, the M4 motorway on the south side, and James Ruse Drive on the west side blotted out the sound of the helicopters taking off, landing, and overflying. The pollution test (all those nasty jet fumes drifting around) found that the local Duck Creek was so polluted from the speedway and gravel crusher runoff, that if anything was still alive in it, they would relish the arrival of a helicopter.
The council had to approve the heliport, but insisted that the whole area be grassed, and no dust was to be permitted to escape. Conveniently ignoring the red-gravel speedway next door, which sent masses of red dust over all areas and the noise pollution was horrendous. But we did it. And nobody has complained about it since 1996 when it was finished.