Around 8,000 submissions have been received on the environmental impact statement for the preliminary flight paths for Western Sydney International Airport.
Community members, local councils, special interest groups and other stakeholders made submissions by the January 31 deadline.
The EIS included assessments of the noise, social and environmental impacts of the preliminary flight paths and the Australian Government’s proposed actions to mitigate these impacts.
This included a draft policy for noise treatments to existing properties most impacted by aircraft noise and considerations for any potential acquisition of property.
“This feedback will be considered when finalising the flight path design,’’ says Catherine King, the federal infrastructure minister.
“The Australian Government appreciates that the flight paths have caused some concern for community members, particularly around aircraft overflight noise.
“That is why we released preliminary flight paths early, in June 2023, and undertook a range of community information and feedback sessions so that communities were across the detail of the flight paths and could contribute to the process by making a submission,’’ Ms King said.
“This included a letterbox drop in July and August 2023 to 922,345 addresses and a second, led by Airservices Australia, in late November and early December to 1.5 million addresses across 26 local government areas in Greater Sydney.
“Since the release of the preliminary flight paths in June 2023, my department has held 46 drop-in sessions and information stalls across Western Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Greater Sydney, as well as two online webinars.
“I want to thank communities across Western Sydney for their engagement throughout this important stage of the process,’’ she said.
Airservices Australia supplemented the engagement with an additional eight events.
A range of material was released with the preliminary flight paths and draft environmental impact statement to help undertake a comprehensive community engagement program.
These included an interactive aircraft overflight noise tool, a digital draft environmental impact statement, explanatory videos, brochures, fact sheets and online briefings all available via a dedicated website, www.wsiflightpaths.gov.au
