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Airports and Planning

Background

In addition to providing a transport service, airports are also significant economic and employment assets; providing jobs, services and goods across a range of sectors including aviation, hospitality, retail and service industries.

Between 1997 and 2003 the operation of Australia’s 22 federal airports privatised, with long-term leases sold to private operators. These leased airports are regulated under the Commonwealth Airports Act 1996, and therefore are not subject to state/territory or local government planning and building laws. In the years since privatisation of federal airports, across Australia planners in communities adjacent to airports have become concerned about the extent of non-aeronautical related development that has been approved and developed on airport sites.

PIA articulated its concerns regarding this issue in the Development on Airport Land – PIA National Position Statement seeking the following urgent action:

To ensure co-ordination and integration of development on airport land, the Commonwealth Government must enter into a binding agreement with airport owners that requires non-airport development on airport land to comply with state planning legislation, processes and strategies.
Recognising that airports will evolve as multi-use transport nodes and attract development, Metropolitan Plans must recognise and build airport development into their strategies, including infrastructure requirements.

Inquiry Into The Airports Amendment Bill 2006

In January 2007 PIA made a Submission to the Inquiry into the Airports Amendment Bill 2006 raising these concerns (Click here for the Attachment to the submission). Through the Inquiry, the Senate proposed to amend legislation governing approvals for development at the Federal Government leased airport sites. The amendments proposed greater consultation with state and local governments and the community on major development proposals at these airport sites. The Senate referred the amendments to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee for inquiry and reporting back to the Senate.

PIA’s submission to this Committee referred to the PIA national position statement on airport development and urged the government to go even further and require development be consistent and integrated with surrounding metropolitan or regional planning. PIA was invited to verbally present to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee on the 30th January 2007 at Parliament House, Canberra. Click here for a copy of the presentation to the Senate Committee. PIA reiterated its position statement that calls for greater integration between development at airports with surrounding planning instruments (local, metropolitan and state/territory); and that the current system was flawed and the amendments don’t go far enough (a copy of the transcript of the proceedings is available on Hansard). Despite the concerns raised by PIA and others the Airports Act 1996 was amended in May 2007 without adequately addressing the concerns regarding the framework for planning and development approvals on airport sites.

Issues Paper

The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, announced on 10 April 2008 the Australian Government's commitment to the development of a National Aviation Policy Statement. The intention of the development of a National Aviation Policy Statement is to provide greater planning and investment certainty for the industry, and to provide clear commitments for users of aviation services and communities affected by aviation activity.

An Issues Paper – Towards a National Aviation Statement - was released in April 2008 initiating discussion on key areas for consideration in a long-term aviation policy statement. Please click here for the Issues Paper and the Submissions.

PIA provided a Submission to the Issues Paper in June 2008 - Submission to National Aviation Policy Statement. The PIA Submission addressed a range of matters and made a series of 8 recommendations as follows:

Non-airport development on airport land must comply and be integrated with surrounding metropolitan, regional or local planning legislation, processes and strategies
Metropolitan, regional or local plans must also plan for airports and associated developments as major centres
All three levels of Governments must be engaged in this process
The relevant State/territory legislation should apply for commercial developments at airports to ensure the same rules apply on the airport land as for other commercial sites in the region
Proponents of development on airport land must contribute to the infrastructure and non-infrastructure measures required to support development on and off site and to mitigate on and off site impacts, under a similar regime as other developments in the region
PIA supports initiatives to amend current legislation to ensure mandatory consultation occurs for proposed developments on airport land.
PIA supports transparent policy developed consultatively, that clearly outlines the requirements for development controls around airports
PIA supports a broad national risk assessment of major airports and access routes to airports to ensure they can adapt to climate change.

Aviation Green Paper

Nearly 300 public submissions were received on the Issues Paper, informing the development of the Aviation Green Paper – Flight Path to the Future, which can be viewed at here. The Green Paper, released in December 2008, contained the Governments proposed policy settings and directions across all aspects of the industry. A further 236 submissions commenting on these proposed approaches were received, including a submission by PIA in February 2009 - Submission to Aviation Green Paper.

The PIA submission welcomed the positive proposals contained in the Green Paper supported the Government’s intention to work with state and territory governments to refine proposals for effective working arrangements, including the key initiatives outlined below:

establishment of Airport Planning Advisory Panels, drawn from industry, community and government, for each of the major airports, to provide independent expert analysis and advice to the Minister;
examining the impact of airport development on surrounding transport and community infrastructure and how the leased federal airports might contribute to this infrastructure;
strengthening of the airport Master Planning process to provide greater transparency and certainty about future land uses at the airports;
providing a power for the Minister to call for additional detail in precinct plans for areas which have been proposed for non-aeronautical development;
a review of triggers for the airport major development process to ensure those developments of most interest to the community are subject to proper consultation;
establishment of community consultation groups at each airport to foster effective community engagement in airport planning issues; and
establishment of a clear policy on the definition of public safety zone areas around airports, which can be taken into account in local planning.

Safeguards For Airports And The Communities Around Them

The Aviation Green Paper included proposals relating to a more effective planning regime both on and off airport sites that does not compromise the effective use of airports or the safety of aviation activity. The Aviation Green Paper indicated that a national risk-based 'safeguarding' policy and guidelines would be initiated with the release of a detailed discussion paper. The aim is to increase public safety and protect aviation infrastructure from inappropriate development around airports and under flight paths.

A Discussion Paper - Safeguards for Airports and the Communities Around Them - prepared with the assistance of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, and in consultation with Airservices Australia, and the Department of Defence was released for consultation in June 2009. It sought feedback from stakeholders on how a safeguarding policy could be implemented. Responses to the discussion paper are to form the basis of the ongoing dialogue between the Department and stakeholders about how this initiative may be progressed.

PIA provided a response to the Discussion Paper Safeguards for Airports and the Communities around them in July 2009 calling for a more balanced approach to airports that also considered the economic, social and environmental needs of surrounding communities.

National Aviation Policy White Paper

Following the consultation processes of the development of the Issues paper and the Green Paper, in December 2009 the Federal Government released the National Aviation Policy White Paper.

The White Paper addresses a range of aviation issues including airport planning and development. The Government has committed to work with the leased federal airports and with state, territory and local governments to achieve a more balanced airport planning framework, which will support more integrated planning outcomes, provide communities with more input to airport planning, and streamline the development of aviation infrastructure.

The framework for reform outlined in the White Paper seeks to support better-integrated planning outcomes and aviation infrastructure investment through:

Planning Coordination Forums for each primary capital city airport to enable airports and governments to more effectively engage on strategic planning issues;
an identified list of Expert Advisors, which will enhance the Minister’s access to expert appraisal of identified land use planning and integration issues;
more detailed Master Plans, including ground transport plans and airport environment strategies;
a new requirement for developments with a significant community, economic or social impact to go through a Major Development Plan assessment, which will enable the Government to better assess the impact of airport development on surrounding communities;
formalised Community Aviation Consultation Groups to ensure that local communities have direct input on airport planning matters, with appropriate arrangements for engagement with other industry stakeholders such as airlines and Airservices Australia where necessary;
a requirement for all applications for building approval on federal airport sites to be published;
a prohibition on incompatible developments on federal airport sites, such as residential developments and schools, unless exceptional circumstances exist;
removing the requirement for a Major Development Plan assessment for high priority, low impact aviation facilities;
providing the Australian Government Minister with discretion to reduce the public comment period around Major Development Plans where the material features of the proposed development have already been addressed in Master Plan consultations; and
the development of national airport safeguarding measures, which will ensure that airport operations are subject to minimal unnecessary constraints from nearby construction and development.

PIA Response

The Federal Government’s policy initiatives in the area of planning for airports have gone some way to address the issues raised in the PIA National Position Statement on Development on Airport Land and subsequent submissions. While the White Paper addresses several of the issues previous raised by PIA as matters of concern; unfortunately it does not adequately address two key issues raised previously by PIA, namely:

The need for airport development, particularly non-aeronautical development, to contribute to infrastructure measures to mitigate on and off site impacts, under a similar regime as other developments in the region.
The potential impacts and risks posed by climate change.

PIA will be pursuing these issues further with the Department of Transport, infrastructure, Regional Development and Local Government as appropriate. The PIA National Position Statement on Development on Airport Land is being reviewed in early 2010 in light of the White paper outcomes.

Amendments Bill 2010 - Letter from Minister Anthony Albanese 06/12/2010

PIA Submissions

Safeguards for Airports and the Communities around them July 2009
Submission to Aviation Green Paper February 2009
Submission to National Aviation Policy Statement June 2008
Submission to the Inquiry into the Airports Amendment Bill 2006 January 2007

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