The Cobden Airport doomed if planners have their way, according to local airport users. Despite major upgrades which allow for night landings, better parking and facilities, the Council have not registered the airport.
This is essential infrastructure and must be protected by regulation. Further, wind turbines can have serious deleterious effects on aviation.
Similar issues arose at Crookwell Airport, just north of Goulburn NSW and there has been much debate on the in other places on effects of wind turbines on aviation.
The Senate had a wind turbine inquiry some time ago, which makes interesting reading.
The latest is a discovery by the local council that there was data left off the WindFarm applicants map “…. planning consultant that has cost us more money and he has found eight houses that range from 1.5 to three kilometres missing off the Naroghid wind farm map……..”. This is a typical ploy of these applications and was present at Crookwell as well.
Here is a shot of the crowd protesting and demonstrating the importance of the Cobden facility.
Minister Barnaby Joyce, here is your first task as Minister.
Stop the turbines and allow an airport a safe future.
Cobden Airport under a Cloud, an open letter. 28th Nov. ‘17
Cobden Airport is threatened by 12 enormous wind turbines planned at nearest distance from Airport 1.4 nautical miles and spread to the north west, against a preferred absolute minimum of 3 nautical miles. Seventy metre blades would reach up around 800 feet into the circuit area. A normal circuit height is 1000 feet, a bad weather circuit may be conducted at 500 feet. Cobden has one north south (night lit) sealed runway. If built in the planned position this wind farm will destroy Cobden Airport. Cobden Airport is community owned and has had much voluntary work and substantial taxpayer funds expended in it’s development. Privately funded hangars and Aero Club rooms, the latter used as a terminal building, are part and parcel of the infrastructure.
In addition to the obvious obstruction problem and loss of night flying availability, downwind turbulence and wind shear would be dangerous when, as commonly, the wind direction is northerly.
Our Airport puts Cobden and the surrounding district ‘on the map.’ Air ambulance and firefighting are two important uses that will undoubtably finish. Charter flights, training flights and tourist flights will cease, no one would plan ahead to use this airport if the towers are in place. Owned by Council, it would have to consider the liability issues and insurance. If the Corangamite Council, as owner, can cause the Airport to be registered, as was the long term plan, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority may provide some protection. Otherwise the go ahead will be a political decision therefore only community opinion might sway the decision in the Airport and community’s favour.
Sandy Reith , member Cobden Aero Club, Commercial Pilot, retired flight instructor with 10,000 hours experience. Stonyford, 0428 ******
Fight for Cobden airport’s future hits close to home for Corangamite Shire mayor Jo Beard
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Kate Zwagerman
RELATED: SOS sent out for airstrip
Taking a stand: Jan O’Connell, Eunie Dawe, Paul Moloney, Warren Ponting, Helen Watts and Stan Williams on the runway at Cobden airport. Picture: Morgan Hancock
RELATED: Cobden airstrip’s role as a lifeline
Corangamite Shire mayor Jo Beard’s reasons for opposing a 12-turbine wind farm that threatens the future of Cobden’s airfield are personal.
The airport has always been part of the Cobden local’s backyard, but its role as a vital community asset was brought home when her husband, Daniel, was involved in a serious car crash.
“It will be 20 years next year that… my husband was involved in a fatality car accident where two people were killed. He was probably one of the worst of the survivors and he was airlifted out of the Cobden airstrip,” she said.
“By the time he got to Melbourne they had to revive him. If he did not have that air ambulance taking him out of Cobden down to Melbourne… he wouldn’t be around.”
She said the strip remained an important landing site for the fixed-wing air ambulance, as well as the helicopter.
Cr Beard also pointed to the council-owned strip’s role in supporting aerial fire-fighting, agricultural spraying and tourism.
Plans for the Naroghid wind farm, located directly north of the Cobden airport, are being considered by the state Planning Minister. Corangamite councillors voted to lodge a submission objecting to the project.
Allinta Energy is behind the project, which would build 12 turbines measuring 180 metres high. The closest turbines would be about 2.5 kilometres from the runway, limiting the ability to take off and land and risking the strip’s future registration as a code one airfield.
Cr Lesley Brown said giving the Planning Minister control of wind farm approvals meant there was often little consideration of local people.
“I find it difficult to understand that the state government is the only authority to decide where these wind farms are located,” she said.
Corangamite Shire mayor Jo Beard. Picture: Rob Gunstone
“I hope that common sense will prevail because if it doesn’t and the future of the airstrip is threatened than nothing will stand in the way of inappropriate sited wind towers in the future,” she said.
Cr Neil Trotter said the Planning Minister should “use his power to veto this forthwith”.
The airstrip hosted a community day last weekend, with hundreds of people and about 40 planes flying in to show support. Mr Morris said a petition had received about 400 signatures within a couple of days.
“The wind farm commissioner came to our airport and had a look first-hand at what we saw as the troubles. He may not have the final decision, but I’d rather being going into this with his support rather than without it,” he said. “I suspect we’ll get his support.”
Mr Morris said the aero club and hangar owners group were also making a joint submission on the wind farm, which is being drafted up Sydney-based aviation lawyers.
Cobrico dairy farmer Angela Molloy told Tuesday night’s council meeting that the wind farm could impact her family’s right to farm.
“We have three turbines adjacent to our residence, with the first turbine 1.07 kilometres from our house,” she said.
Mrs Molloy said the farm’s fertiliser spreading was contracted to an aerial spraying company operating from the airport, which would not continue if the wind farm went ahead.
“The loss of this spreading pertains to a loss of $70,000 a year. Nothing a dairy farmer can withstand,” she said.
Mrs Molloy also raised concerns over shadow flicker, aviation lighting that could impact on sleep, and planning discrepancies found in the map of the Naroghid wind farm.
“When I first did a drive-by with another lady we found 40 houses missing off this map. This map has been in circulation since 2006 and we want to know why it hasn’t been picked up. It is disgusting. Where or how has any of this got through without someone checking it?” Mrs Molloy said.
“We now have a planning consultant that has cost us more money and he has found eight houses that range from 1.5 to three kilometres missing off the Naroghid wind farm map.”
Mrs Molloy said they had also received no communication from the wind farm company.
“Because we are objecting we’ve never heard from them,” she said.
Planned Naroghid wind farm puts Cobden airport in nosedive
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Kate Zwagerman
Plans for the Naroghid wind farm, located directly north of the Cobden airport, are being considered by the state Planning Minister.
The project has been on the drawing board for more than a decade and was taken over by Alinta Energy earlier this year. The energy giant plans to build 12 turbines measuring 180 metres and costing up to $100 million.
Cobden Aero Club member Duncan Morris said if the development went ahead in its current form, it could ultimately lead to the strip’s closure.
He said turbines would be located from 1.4 nautical miles, or about 2.5 kilometres, from the runway.
“If I took off in my aircraft to the north, I would hit that tower about three-quarters of the way up it 40 seconds after take-off, that’s how close it is,” he said.
Mr Morris said aircraft could me maneuvered around the turbines, but “maneuvering so close to the ground is dangerous”.
The Cobden airport is the only one of its kind in Corangamite Shire and Mr Morris said it covered a wide area between Warrnambool, Geelong and Ballarat. It services the region’s tourism and agriculture industries and is used by the air ambulance, in particular its fixed-wing aircraft for medical transfers and emergencies, as well as recreational flying.
The community has a long-term vision for the airport, including a new terminal and command centre. A funding application for $400,000 has been lodged with the state government and about $40,000 already raised by the community for the development.
Mr Morris said other significant improvements had been made to the site over time.
A generic image of a wind farm.
“Given that the state government contributed significantly to upgrade the strip and seal it, it seems ridiculous that the next state government would support something that will effectively destroy it,” he said.
Mr Morris said when the wind farm was previously on the table, airport users had suggested a one kilometre corridor either side of the runway to solve the issue.
“In 2005 they had four turbines in that corridor and wouldn’t even discuss the idea,” he said. “In the revised plan there’s at least six in that corridor, there’s a whole cluster of them.”
A number of airport user groups are planning to make submissions on the plan.
Four years ago, the state’s planning tribunal refused to extend a permit for the wind farm after noting a two-kilometre setback rule in place at the time, which allowed residents within that zone to veto wind farms.
By 2015, however, the state government amended that rule, restricting the veto zone to one kilometre. The closest non-stakeholder home to the Naroghid turbines is now 1006 metres, according to the Alinta proposal.
Submissions to the plan close on December 22.
Cobden airport is an integral asset to the shire
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Clare Quirk
PLANS: Corangamite councillor Neil Trotter and Cobden airport reporting officer Warren Ponting say the airstrip is a huge asset. Picture: Rob Gunstone
The Cobden Airport committee say a terminal is needed to meet the demands of a growing community asset which services Corangamite and some neighboring shires.
The committee has worked with Corangamite Shire who have made a submission to Regional Development Victoria for $300,000 of funding.
The committee, through community fundraising, would raise an additional $100,000 needed to see the project achieved.
Airport reporting officer and committee member Warren Ponting said so far the committee had already raised $40,000 towards the development.
Mr Ponting said the project would bring major commercial and economical benefits to Cobden and the shire.
“We’re the closest airport to the Twelve Apostles,” he said.
He said the terminal could also be used as a command for emergency services.
Mr Ponting said the airport was used weekly by the air ambulance.
“It’s secure and private for the air ambulance to land,” he said.
Mr Ponting said the terminal would include toilets, a small information desk and aero club rooms with a kitchen and dining area.
He said the planned building could also accommodate a pilot and command centre during an emergency.
“It would certainly open up a lot of opportunities,” he said.
Mr Ponting said community involvement and council support would ensure the project was completed.
“Five years ago we didn’t have a sealed strip,” he said. “We’ve got fully sealed and wider runway.
“We’ve got pilot activated lighting so pilots can radio ahead and get lights turned on.”
Corangamite councillor Neil Trotter said the airport was an important asset for the shire.
“Strategically it’s important for the shire,” he said.
“It’s an asset which services the whole shire.”
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