Gladstone Park and Westmeadows have been “sacrificed” to allow Melbourne Airport’s expansion, residents are claiming.
Notification of the approval by the federal government for the airport’s growth masterplan, which proposes a new east-west runway, arrived on Christmas Eve, a communique Frank Rivoli and Sam Cetrola took as a slap in the face for locals.
Mr Rivoli told the Weekly that residents’ concerns about noise and pollution, and the lack of funds for double-glazing or insulating affected homes and businesses, had been overlooked in the masterplan.
He pointed out comments made by then prime minister Sir John Gorton when the airport opened on July 1, 1970: “It is our intention as a government that this airport should so operate, subject in the future to just this one qualification, that the state authorities concerned see that there is no build-up around the perimeter of this airport of housing settlements which, in the future, might lead to great noise discomfort to those living in them,” the then-PM said.
But Mr Rivoli says Melbourne Airport is curfew-free, with no buffer between it and the city that now almost encircles it.
A spokesman for the federal Department of Infrastructure said approval for the new airport masterplan did not mean there was approval for a new runway or any other developments the masterplan had identified.
“Significant on-airport developments, such as a new runway, require further significant planning, design and regulatory approvals through the Major Development Plan process – a requirement for all significant developments on airport land,” the spokesman said. It was confirmed, however, that the Aircraft Noise Levy Act 1995 does not apply to Melbourne Airport. The spokesman said a Major Development Plan requires further community consultation and examination of environmental impacts, including aircraft noise.
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