Badgerys Creek. An ideal location

The Badgerys Creek site could be developed to the region’s advantage, according to a report prepared for the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) by Strategies for Change and ARUP. In addition to the agricultural value of the land, the area, which has served primarily as farmland since European occupancy, has proximity to regional freight links, manufacturing hubs and Liverpool making it an ideal location for a new commercial, industrial and residential centre.

Region. New study for second airport

The federal government would consider selling land which was set aside for a second airport, at Badgerys Creek, as part of an investment strategy to fund a second airport for Sydney. The government has provided $8.5 million, for 2001-11, for a strategic aviation plan for suitable sites in the Sydney region. The NSW government would match the funding. Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, said further delays in finding another site would hinder economic growth and tourism.

Liverpool. Amendment on airport site

Liverpool City Council will draft an amendment to the Liverpool 2008 local environmental plan to consider new residential developments on land around the Badgerys Creek airport site and alleviate the need for costly soundproofing. The Department of Planning would decide whether to place the draft amendment on public exhibition or not. The Federal Governments’s National Aviation Policy Green Paper, in 2008, confirmed the site would no longer be considered as an option for Sydney’s second airport. Federal Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, has indicated the Federal Government is reluctant to lift the restrictions. This is because it could lead to overdevelopment, which could clash with the site’s future use, the Liverpool leader reported..

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.

Badgerys Creek. Call for lifting of notice

John Harding, chairman, of the Silverdale-Warragamba Action Group has called on the Federal Government to lift the “airport designation” from the Commonwealth land at and around Badgerys Creek. He said airport affectation notices and requirements still bind planning certificates constraining property developments around the site. “Anyone who wants to develop in the area needs to pay for expensive insulation and double-glazed windows because it’s under a proposed flight path,” Mr Harding said in the Penrith Press..The government formally ruled out the construction of an airport at Badgerys Creek late last year. The 1700-hectare proposed site remains vacant.