[Peetwo]

Cobden sets precedent in non-aviation development proposals around airports??

Nearly missed this (  ) but in the area of airports we actually have a good news story for a change...

First via the Warrnambool Standard:

JUNE 5 2019 - 3:30PM
VCAT rejects application for Naroghid wind farm, Cobden aviation community welcomes decision

Kyra Gillespie



 Victory: Pilots and community supporters praise tribunal decision to reject the construction of wind turbines to the north of the airport. Pictured in 2017 protesting at the Cobden Airport. Picture: Rob Gunstone

A PROPOSED wind farm near the Cobden airport will not go ahead due to safety concerns and its potential to harm the habitat of the critically endangered southern bent-winged bat.


The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ruled on June 3 that no permit would be granted for the Naroghid wind farm following an eight-day hearing.


Developer Alinta Energy had planned for a 12 turbine wind farm on farmland north-west of Cobden, the latest in a string of wind farm proposals for the site since 2006.


But pilots feared a collision with the 180-metre high turbines, some proposed to be just 2.5 kilometres from the airfield's northern runway, amid concerns the Corangamite Shire Council-owned site facing closure if the development went ahead.


The tribunal found the development's impact on the airfield and nearby roosting sites for the southern bent-wing bat outweighed the project's "favourable" clean energy qualities.


Corangamite Shire Council mayor Neil Trotter applauded the decision, but said the dispute was drawn out and costly for the council.

"We were concerned we would have to look for a new site if the wind farm went ahead," Cr Trotter said.


"It means the council had to spend quite a bit of money to take this to VCAT, and it's money on the face of it that we probably wouldn't have had to spend if common sense had prevailed."

Alinta spokeswoman Megan Taylor said an appeal might be on the cards.


Turbines: Alinta Energy may appeal the tribunal's decision. Photo: Sitthixay Ditthavong


"Alinta Energy notes the decision from VCAT and will take time to review the determination and assess whether a modified proposal might be feasible," Ms Taylor said. 


"We will always work to develop projects in collaboration with local communities and with safety as the highest priory."

However Duncan Morris, a spokesperson for the Cobden Aero Club leading the charge against the development, said the applicant "refused' to communicate with the club.


"If they do try to appeal or start again with a fresh application we hope they would try to work with us, because they refused to deal with us at any point," he said.


"This decision is really good for the town, there are plenty of places to build these things that don't affect existing community assets.


"These towers would have been 180 metres high, with the closest one about 1.4 nautical miles directly in front of the airstrip which would seriously impede a takeoff towards it and also the landing if you had to come around it or over it. 

"It was in the middle of our flight path."


 Shutdown fears: Warren Ponting showing off where the wind turbines would be in relation to the airport. Picture: Morgan Hancock


The $100 million project would have placed 12, 180-metre-high turbines that would produce between 43.2-48 megawatts across an 835 hectare area, which would have powered around 14,000 households according to Climate Council estimates. 


Planning Minister Richard Wynne said he would have refused the application for two reasons.


"The significant concern about the effect of the wind farm turbines on the safety and efficiency of the Cobden airfield ... and the impact on the critically endangered southern bent-wing bat," he said.


Opponents to the wind farm development also cited the vital role that the Cobden Airport played in fighting the St Patrick's Day fires and peat fires, and feared the impact on emergency service accessibility if the airstrip was to cease operation as a result of the turbines.


READ more: St Patrick's Day fires highlight importance of Cobden airport amid wind farm fears


"Not only is the airport great for the community and great for the people that use it, it's also very important to have that available for emergency services such as air ambulance and aviation rescue fire fighters," Aero Club president Don Mackinnon said.


"It would have made it nearly unusable."


The Civil Aviation Safety Authority said turbulence is possible for a distance of 16 times the rotor of a turbine.


"CASA advises that the proposed wind farm will create an unnacceptable risk to the safety of aircraft operations at Cobden Aerodrome," the aviation authority said in a statement to VCAT.

Shadow Minister for Aviation Gordon Rich-Phillips welcomed the news.

"Congratulations to the Cobden Aero Club and Cobden community more generally which has fought this ill conceived proposal for several years," he wrote on Facebook.

And via the LMH:

Cobden beats the Wind Farm
27 June 2019
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The small airport at Cobden in Victoria has proven to be a mouse that roared after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) refused an application to build a wind farm on the airport flight path.

Naroghid Wind Farm Pty Ltd wanted to build 12 wind turbines that would reach 180 metres above ground level positioned only 2 km north-west of Cobden township in Victoria's western district. Naroghid took the matter to VCAT after the Victorian Planning Minister failed to make a decision within the statutory time.

Supporters of Cobden Airport argued that the proposed wind turbines would have significant impacts on flying operations, including:

• restricting the ability to take off and depart directly to the north
  
• restricting the ability to approach and land from the north, including but not limited to straight in approaches
  
• creation of turbulence in the circuit area to the west of the runway when northerly through to westerly winds are blowing
  
• preventing night time use
  
• limiting the ability to extend a circuit leg when manoeuvring in response to slower aircraft in the circuit
  
• being a visual distraction to pilots, thereby adding to operational risk factors during a critical phase of flight.
  

The Minister told VCAT that if the application for review had not been made, the permit would have been because of the impact on Cobden Airport and the endangered Southern Bent Wing Bat. The minister proposed that VCAT should refuse the permit for the same reasons.
VCAT agreed, and on 3 June ruled that a permit not be granted.

" ...we acknowledge that there are aspects of the proposal which weigh in its favour, including the delivery of renewable energy and its minimisation of amenity impacts on nearby properties," states the VCAT ruling handed down by members Ian Potts and Michelle Blackburn.
"However we do not consider these benefits to outweigh ... the material impact that we have found the proposal will have on the safety of the current aviation operations at the Cobden airfield. Measures needed to address these safety impacts will have an impact on the efficient use of the Cobden airfield, and give rise to a new land use conflict between aircraft operations and the amenity of Cobden residents.

"While it may be possible for the proposal to be altered to address our concerns about the airfield and for further field surveys to satisfactorily address the likely risk to the Southern Bent-wing Bat, these are not matters which can be addressed by simple modifications to the proposal or by allowing a short period for further information to be provided under an interim decision.

"As a result, we have refused to grant a permit for the proposal."

The VCAT ruling elaborated further on what it says would be significant impacts on the airfield, stating that if they approved the permit it would be up to the Cobden airfield to undertake changes to operations to address the additional safety risks, stop night operations and relocate the existing circuit area away from less sensitive farming land to an area around the town itself.

"We consider these impacts of the proposal on the current use of an existing public asset to be a factor which weighs against it," the ruling says. "We consider this to be a significant factor given that the Cobden airfield is an asset expressly recognised in the scheme, with policy support for the protection of its ongoing operation and the community benefits that arise from its use.

"We also consider reducing the existing separation between the use of the airfield and the township of Cobden, so that aircraft using the airfield would fly closer to the Cobden township, creates a situation of potential land use conflict which is inconsistent with orderly planning and which could impact on the amenity of the residents of the Cobden township.

"This detriment to the Cobden township as a whole is another matter which we consider weighs against the proposal when assessing its net community benefit."

Naroghid developer Alinta Energy is believed to be reviewing the decision to see if a modified proposal may be possible.

Read more at http://www.australianflying.com.au/lates...0yiPWWU.99

See what can happen when a community unites...

MTF...P2