A Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) objection to a planning proposal by the Emirates Wolgan Valley Resort accuses the company of using a road closure crisis to lock in a permanent 256% surge in flight volumes.
In its submission, BMCC alleges that the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure was misled into treating a permanent expansion as a temporary emergency fix. The Council contends that transforming a conventional, vehicle-dependent eco-resort into a ‘fly-in, fly-out’ (FIFO) aviation hub means the project is no longer ‘substantially the same development’, bypassing proper planning pathways and mandatory public notification requirements.
Wilderness Australia Honorary Projects Officer Keith Muir said the justification for a massive escalation in helicopter use has completely evaporated following a sudden u-turn by Lithgow City Council.
‘Thanks to relentless pressure from the Wolgan Valley community, Lithgow Council has abandoned its proposal for an entirely new road costing hundreds of millions of dollars,’ Mr Muir said. ‘The existing Wolgan Road will now be repaired at a moderate cost of $50 million and is scheduled to reopen as a single-lane road with traffic lights in the third quarter of this year. The crisis is ending, yet the resort is trying to slip a permanent flight expansion through the back door.’
The controversial State Significant Development (SSD) modification proposal (MP06-0310-Mod 4) seeks up to 210 helicopter movements per week over the Blue Mountains, before permanently entrenching 100 weekly movements after the road reopens.
Mr Muir also warned that the resulting constant aviation noise from helicopters flying over the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area roughly every 22 minutes threatens to turn the glamping resorts proposed as well as the park’s visitor facilities within the park into ‘stranded assets’.
‘The Gardens of Stone region risks gaining a reputation for constant helicopter noise,’ Mr Muir said. ‘This noise directly threatens the aesthetic appeal and financial viability of proposed nearby glamping resorts. It raises serious corporate drama over the recent deal between Experience Co and Intrepid Travel. Did Experience Co sell Intrepid a "pup", or does Intrepid still have room to back out before these eco-investments are ruined by helicopter noise?’
Meanwhile, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has quietly shifted its stance regarding the proposed glamping sites following recent reporting by the Herald. NPWS now supports revising the site character assessment of ‘Bush Camp 2’ to ‘largely unmodified’, and is looking to relocate other resort infrastructure onto existing dirt tracks for Sites 1 and 3.
However, the NPWS refuses to accept that the localities of all three resorts are essentially pristine sites, claiming historical human impacts. Mr Muir said the three resort sites are the most intact left on the Newnes Plateau and should not be developed under the NPWS’s own guidelines.
‘NPWS appears poised to recommend approval for a project that faces being completely undermined by helicopter noise, while Environment Minister Penny Sharpe is left holding the political bag,’ Mr Muir warned.
‘With the road reopening ahead of schedule and Council fiercely fighting the increase in helicopter flights, the optics for both the resort and the NSW Government are getting incredibly messy. The Department of Planning must reject this misleading modification and protect the acoustic amenity of our World Heritage-listed national parks and the Gardens of Stone region.’
ENDS
Media contact Keith Muir, Honorary Projects Officer, Wilderness Australia
Mobile: 0412 791 404
The Blue Mountains City Council objection to the helicopter increases (SSD MOD MP06-0310-Mod 4) is available to media upon request.
