Other than Thorny there has not been much commentary on the miniscule signing off on the BK Master Plan...
Not sure if this is typical apathy; or resignation; or maybe it is seen as a good thing by some??
Anyway in the course of doing some internet trolling on the subject, I came across a document off M&Ms website that was of interest...
This document was titled -
Bankstown Airport draft Master Plan 2010 - Reasons for Decision
Basically the 13 pages contained within summarised why Albo had formally rejected the BAL dMP from March 2010:
Findings on material questions of fact and reasons for decision
18. The Minister decided not to approve the draft master plan because he was not satisfied that the draft master plan adequately achieved the purposes of a final master plan. The Minister further concluded that the consultations carried out by BAL in relation to the draft master plan were not adequate. The Minister also considered that the outcome of those consultations had not been satisfactory addressed.
19. The Minister also found that: carrying out the dMP would adequately meet the present and future requirements of civil aviation users; the dMP specified the matters prescribed in subsection 71(2); and BAL has complied with section 72 of the Act.
20. The Minister also found that the introduction of RPT services at Bankstown could raise issues relating to airspace management in the Sydney basin. The Minister noted that the 2003 Airservices Report into the operational capability of Bankstown Airport raised airspace concerns surrounding the introduction of RPT at BAL. The Airservices submission in the dMP process also refers to new air traffic arrangements and identifies the need for new arrangements to fit with Sydney Airport procedures...
Blah...blah...blah...however I do wonder if the former miniscule's real concerns with the dMP were not contained in paragraphs 33-36:
33. ...The Minister was also concerned that the dMP lacked sufficient information about the consequences, particularly in terms of aircraft noise, of the proposed use, and about mitigation strategies...
35. ...BAL further indicated that it would have informed the public about passenger services through a second consultation phase that would include: flight timings and weekly schedules; noise impacts; ground traffic impacts; operational impacts; and the use of flight tracking technology...
36. ...to the Minister would have better informed the public about the intended use of the Airport, by revealing the potential impact of the intended use on issues of concern to the community, such as noise levels at particular times and places or traffic impacts...
What perked my interest however was the reference to the 2003 AirServices report, so I did some further digging and came across some interesting passages of Hansard from a
HoR adjournment 5 August 2004
This was part of the 1st instalment - from the former member for Blaxland - on the subject of YSBK & the dMP:
Mr HATTON (10:39 AM) —Bankstown Airport Ltd have just released the preliminary draft master plan for Bankstown Airport, which gives their vision of the way Bankstown Airport should operate in the next 20 years. The reason that Bankstown Airport Ltd have done it, and not the federal government, is that the federal government sold the lease on the airport before it had worked out a plan for how Bankstown is to be used in the future.
The expectation of most people in Bankstown was that this master plan would not dramatically change the way things happen in Bankstown. On the briefings that I got from Bankstown Airport Ltd, I did not expect any major change; I expected that this general aviation airport would continue to operate in the way it had operated in the past. I understood that the one thing they were looking for was an extension of the runway by 200-odd metres in order to send freighters out of Bankstown Airport fully laden. However, here today—as I did in a press release recently—I absolutely condemn the fundamentals of this plan.
The demand for a 220-metre extension to the runway is matched by the consideration that they want to strengthen that runway so that it could regularly take not 20-tonne loads, as it has taken historically, but 50-tonne loads. The thrust of this draft master plan is that regular passenger transport operations should be introduced to Bankstown Airport. When you look at the figurings for the future, you see that that would knock out most of the general aviation operations that are the core of Bankstown Airport's current operation.
This is the biggest business in Bankstown. This is the fundamental heart of our industrial activity. General aviation training and general aviation bring income from all over the world into Australia. It is the very engine of our economy in Bankstown. What the draft master plan would seek to do is to supplant general aviation with regular passenger transport services—jet and turbo-prop. What this plan does not seek to do at all, as the government has never sought to do, is to write out 737s and above using Bankstown Airport for the whole of the future and certainly for the next 20 years...
And the reference to the ASA 2003 study is contained in a further passage of Hansard from the former member for Blaxland
here.
All of which got me thinking that maybe there is a lot more to the miniscule's very low key announcement on approving (signing) the BAL October 2014 Master Plan..
(one perhaps for the BRB...
)
While on the subject of YSBK I note that Toll has made a significant commitment to a major investment with the airport...
:
Toll scores aeromedical contract
Australia’s largest provider of transport and logistics, Toll Group, has signed an aeromedical contract with the NSW Health Administration Corporation that is expected to generate revenues of approximately $800 million over 10 years.
The work will see eight new, purpose-built medical helicopters service the southern half of NSW and the ACT from four bases, as well as building and operating an aeromedical training centre of excellence at BankstownAirport, a first in Australia.
Toll Group Managing Director Brian Kruger said Toll will take advantage of its air evacuation and search and rescue expertise to provide an outstanding emergency response service to the people of NSW and the ACT.
"Every year in NSW and ACT there is more than 3,000 flights needed for emergencies such as car accidents, inter-hospital transfers and search and rescue tasks," Mr Kruger said.
"Toll is well known for providing operational excellence in a range of transport services, including helicopter services for the Australian Federal Police in the Solomon Islands and the Australian Defence Force in East Timor, and providing disaster relief management support across the Asia Pacific region on behalf of Australian Government agencies.
"The experience we bring will give confidence to the people of NSW and the ACT that an outstanding helicopter medical rescue service is available."
One of the highlights of Toll’s capabilities is the development of an aeromedical training centre of excellence at Bankstown Airport.
The state-of-the-art training centre will include flight and training simulators, advanced underwater escape training complex, and wet and dry winching practice towers.
Mr Kruger said the centre of excellence at Bankstown will allow Toll to deliver world’s best helicopter emergency retrieval service for NSW Ambulance.
Hmm...wonder if there is a connection...
I'll be back...
