Badgerys Creek. Landowners waiting in hope

Nearly two years after Badgerys Creek was officially dumped as a site for the city's second airport, thousands of hectares in the area remain under aircraft noise zonings. At least 1700 landowners stretching from Horsley Park to the foot of the Blue Mountains are caught in a tangle of development restrictions that vary according to their proximity to the Badgerys Creek ''flight paths''. Federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, has repeatedly declared the idea dead and last year's aviation green paper said it was ''no longer an option''. But he has so far refused to make the necessary amendments to the Aviation Act to pave the way for the zoning restrictions to be lifted at the state and local level, incensing the landowners and drawing criticism from local Labor MPs, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.