Written by Alan Kerlin Thursday, 19 March 2009 00:00
The next GCC meeting on Wednesday 8 April will be all about transport!
Roads ACT Director Tony Gill will update us on roads projects and Canberra Airport's Noel McCann presenting the Airport Master Plan.
Tony Gill will discuss current and planned roads projects, including much needed projects like the 4-laning of the GDE, the Majura Parkway, and 4-laning of Flemington Road. He'll also take your questions on other roads and pathway work. One thing we'll be asking is "what is with that awful chipseal going down on streets everywhere instead of hotmix?"
Noel McCann will give Gungahlin residents a brief description of the key features of the Airport's second attempt to get their 5-yearly Master Plan update through the Federal Government. The first draft plan last year was rejected, with the Government saying that they need to "demonstrate due regard for the comments received [in public submissions] in preparing the plan." The full refusal letter is here (PDF 706KB) and the refused master plan is here (38MB PDF) (yes a very big file!).
While the airport is quite a distance from Gungahlin, thousands of flights take off to the north (the preferred departure direction to reduce noise for Jerrabomberra residents) then turn left over us. And this noise will only grow over the coming years - including at night time - the airport plans to operate a 24/7 freight hub, with 10 aircraft movements between 11.30 pm and 2.00 am every night within the next five years.
GCC has been attending meetings of the airport's Noise Consultative Forum for the last three years. We continue to push for changes to the operation of flights around Gungahlin to reduce future noise impacts. Our proposals include moving the current Noise Abatement Zone line further east, and implementing a curfew between 11.00 pm and 6.00 am, but we have met steadfast refusal on both measures from the Airport.
The draft Master Plan has made some welcome concessions on the Noise Abatement Zone and a proposal to prevent overflights of Gungahlin between our proposed curfew hours. But we need to know what the process for implementing (and guaranteeing!) these measures would be. And the curfew remains solidly on our agenda as the only true way to give everyone (including the airport) certainty into the future.
See you at the Palmerston Community Centre, next to the Palmerston shops, Tiptree Crescent, at 7.30 pm.Meetings are the second Wednesday of every month. Here's a map of the meeting location.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|