Despite its many benefits, the Ballina Byron Gateway Airport is continuing to cause serious noise problems for some local residents, according to a motion presented to Ballina Shire Council’s last meeting by Cr Simon Chate.
Cr Chate opened the discussion by stating for the record that he viewed the airport as one of the ‘jewels’ of the region, providing a world class service. He also said Ballina Council had recently received an email from a heavily noise impacted member of the community.
Cr Chate said he was moved by the sentiment contained within the communication, with the issue also being the subject of other conversations throughout the year. ‘It seems to me that there are a number of concerned residents in our community who are impacted by aircraft noise,’ he said.
His motion sought an update on what was happening with the issue since Cr Kiri Dicker’s previous motion on the subject in August 2022, in order to get a clearer understanding of the issues around aircraft noise and its impact on the residents.
Cr Chate noted that Ballina Council staff had responded with detailed answers to many of his questions regarding the number and type of regular flight movements, including takeoff and landing times, as well as approach and departure paths.
‘They’ve detailed the Australian noise exposure forecast contour map, which shows acceptable decibel readings and affected footprints, as well as the low number of residences directed within that footprint, and the sporadic nature and frequency of training circuit flights.’
Cr Chate thanked staff for this information and said he was now seeking an update on what had happened with council’s previous resolution on airport noise.
Ballina GM Paul Hickey said he had written to Air Services Australia, Jetstar, Virgin and Qantas, with the airlines providing little in the way of feedback, but all saying they were doing their best to minimise noise impacts on the local community.
Mr Hickey said that to put Ballina Byron Gateway Airport into wider context, Air Services Australia gets only ‘a couple of complaints a month from us’, while the Gold Coast Airport gets ‘3,000 on average’.
Flight training jobs lost?
Mayor Sharon Cadwallader said one company that had been doing a lot of training flights out of Ballina had now moved most of its operations to Armidale, as the result of complaints, ‘which means it’s cost us jobs’.
She suggested the noise problem had been overstated, noting that on some videos she had seen the birds and crickets were louder than the aircraft.
Cr Cadwallader said Ballina would soon be gaining a digital control tower at federal expense (along with Canberra and Western Sydney), which would improve passenger safety and possibly also aircraft noise issues.
Cr Kiri Dicker sought an assurance from staff that Air Services Australia had been contacted with a request for an independent airspace review specifically focusing on appropriate noise abatement measures. Council staff said this had been done.
Cr Eoin Johnston said he sympathised with those affected by noise, and asked if pilots could avoid residential areas if possible? Mayor Cadwallader said this was already being done.
Cr Phil Meehan said he had experience of living under the flight path and noted that residents were warned of the issues when they moved into affected areas, and that the number of people complaining of severe problems was ‘very small’.
He told a story about asking his wife not to tell him about the noise, suggesting the issue was partly psychological.
While saying he was glad to support Cr Chate’s initiative, Cr Meehan said he was erring on the side of caution about ‘over cooking’ the noise issue, and ‘killing the goose that laid the golden eggs by complaining too much about something which is the responsibility of other areas in the end.’
Cr Kiri Dicker said the main issue was not passenger aircraft, but training flights, specifically circuit training, which were a law unto themselves, particularly affecting residents of Skennars Head. ‘We don’t know how many training aircraft there are. We don’t know what flight paths they take.’
She said that many of these trips starts in Ipswich or Brisbane, then people flew down the coast to do circuit training. ‘And we’re saying that it’s okay for people to do that seven days a week between 7am and 10pm?’
Cr Dicker said she would like to see a change to that curfew, or at least limit the days training aircraft could fly.
In the end, Cr Chate’s motion to seek more information passed unanimously.
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