Money for channel wasted on airport

Central Coast Council has chosen to leave the Ettalong Channel partially blocked, dangerous and possibly costing ferry jobs for the sake of investing $5 million to dredge the channel.

This path has been chosen by Council after deciding to waste yet another $6 million on their airport at Warnervale (in the former Wyong Shire) in the 2017-18 Operational Plan, bringing the total in ratepayers funds tied up in and spent on the airport to over $40 million.

The airport, which lost $635,000 last year and is limited in size by an Act of the NSW Parliament that Council has requested be repealed, was removed from the Central Coast Regional Plan to 2036.

The Regional Plan, via the Wyong Employment Zone, supports the industrialisation of the airport site, with at least a $12 million capital return to the ratepayers and 626 direct jobs to be generated as opposed to the 10 jobs currently on site.

Council's own airport feasibility study recommends the closure of the airport and the industrial development of the site for the benefit of the community, rather than the select minority that use the airport now.

Over $40 million has been tied up in and spent on an airport that is not viable, desirable or necessary.

This is money the Central Coast community needs for vital infrastructure and not for the benefit of a select few.

Email, 25 May 2017

Laurie Eyes, Wyong Creek