Spitfire rules the Koah sky
A CAIRNS businessman’s dream of commuting to work in a World War II replica Spitfire has been cleared for takeoff.
Mareeba Shire Council yesterday granted approval to English Engineering owner Pat English’s proposal to use the private airstrip at his Koah property for one flight a day, 365 days a year.
Mr English (above) last year applied for permission to use his airstrip more frequently so he could fly daily between Koah and Cairns, avoiding the long drive down the Kuranda Range. He initially wanted up to six flights a day.
The council granted approval under the condition Mr English be restricted to one flight per day at the airstrip and that the flights be noncumulative.
Mareeba Shire Mayor Tom Gilmore said this meant Mr English could not save up the flights during the week and then have multiple flights in a single day.
“A flight includes getting off the ground and getting back on it,” Cr Gilmore said.
The council received 182 submissions about the development application, 93 per cent of which were objections.
Some of Mr English’s neighbours claimed it would have a negative impact on the quiet rural lifestyle of Koah and their privacy.
Mr English said, while the conditional approval was a “step in the right direction” by the council, he would seek town planning advice about the restrictions on the amount of flights.
He expected to start commuting to work in his Spitfire next month. THE new lawyer heading up the Far North’s only free environmental law firm wants to make the service more relevant to locals.
Kirstiana Ward has started work as the principal solicitor at the Environmental Defenders Office of North Queensland. The EDO-NQ is a nonprofit, non-government charitable community legal centre specialising in public interest environmental law.
In recent years, the centre became known for being a vocal advocate of Cairns’ inner-city flying fox colony.
Ms Ward, who previously worked at Bottoms English Lawyers, said the EDO wanted to become more relevant for Far North Queenslanders by assisting with issues such as local habitat protection.
“We need people to know that we’re here and we’ll do our best to help,” she said.
She said she was also keen to work closer with private law firms, and tertiary law students, who may be interested in gaining work experience in environmental law.
“The more help we can get, the more work we can do,” she said.
“There’s only a couple of environmental lawyers in town, and they can be very expensive, and a lot of the community can’t access funds to even seek the initial advice they might need.”