Submission on the Planning Construction and management of Western Airport

I write as an older resident of Glenbrook in the Blue Mountains who once lived in Marrickville, under the flightpath of and who knows very well what it is like to live near an airport. I remember the rattling windows as planes flew overhead when I could not hear the TV. I also remember the black ash on my white sheets hanging on the outside clothes line. I remember being very worried about all the noise and pollution affecting my young family so I decided to move as far away as I could get and moved to Blaxland in the Blue Mountains where I lived happily for many years.

In Marrickville the Airport was already there when I first moved in so I knew I could not complain too much. So I left. I didn’t ask for double glazing or noise proofing or any of the things current city residents have been given. I just left for the peace and quiet of the Blue Mountains. I also suffered a financial loss selling my city home for a Blue Mountains one.

Then in 2015 made that dreadful announcement confirming Western Sydney Airport would go ahead in Bringelly, not far from my home. All my worst fears were confirmed. And this airport would be a 24 hour, 7 day a week operation. How would we all sleep? There are a lot of health workers living in the lower mountains and a great many of them do shift work of one sort or another. How will they do their jobs after the new airport begins operation?

People who move to the Blue Mountains usually are seeking peace and quiet and a return to a more natural lifestyle. There is a great sense of community here and people look after each other. This airport has the capacity to crush our little communities with the rampant noise and pollution squeezing the very thing things that sustain us; the serenity of our National and local parks, the peace and quiet allowing you to hear birdsong. The lovely clean air will fill up with soot and ash.

I have only heard the propaganda from the Pro-airport lobby about how good this airport will be for jobs. Very little has been said about the negative impact this will have on our clean natural environment and on our sleep and sanity. Why is this? Why is there nothing about compensation for our residents? Surely the government doesn’t expect us to sit by and let them ruin our futures and not ask for compensation? The negative impacts of this airport will be many and varied. Will the tourists currently travelling to the Blue Mountains seeking respite and solace from the built-up polluted suburbs, will they still come here if they will be deafened by low flying aircraft? Will they still come if they are to breathe in polluted air? This airport can cause a lot of damage to both locals and visitors; to humans and birds and fauna. And to businesses when the tourist numbers start to drop off. I know. I have lived experience of living under an airport.

This WSA is supposed to open in 2026 yet the government has done very little to provide affected residents with any reassurance or advice. This airport will be an abomination for most of our residents who will experience some level of harm from its operation. Who will support them? Why is nothing being said? I am so sick of the Pro airport lobby’s jobs claims. They appear inflated and unrealistic. I am also deeply concerned about the safety of the airport in relation to bird and bat strikes.

I fear that an airport will drive me out of my home, for the second time in my life. I am 68 and planned to live here for the rest of my life, until I heard the WSA was coming. I dread the future.