Tweed vote to stop ILS
FOUR Tweed Shire councillors have held a crisis meeting to torpedo the installation of the Instrument Landing System at the Gold Coast Airport.
Mayor Katie Milne yesterday led the surprise charge for council to write to Federal Infrastructure Minister Darren Chester and NSW Environment Minister Gabrielle Upton to have work on the ILS stopped due to “serious concerns regarding the clearing and earthworks”.
But the airport said they had complied with all regulations and not gone outside the footprint agreed in the approved development application.
The controversial vote was made during a snap extraordinary meeting, to which three councillors were unable to attend due to prior commitments.
“(The council writes) ... calling for an immediate halt to the works and a full inquiry into the processes of the matter,” the council resolution reads.
The resolution also claims the construction, which started late last week, had gone outside the agreed boundaries by 150 metres.
“The key problem is (the extra 150m) matches exactly the footprint of the runway extension of the master development plan which was rejected by council,” Deputy Mayor Chris Cherry said.
“Although they’re saying there will be no runway extension, it appears it is a runway extension by stealth.”
The proposal to stop the construction of the ILS caught councillors off-guard with the extraordinary meeting called late on Friday afternoon.
Of the four councillors who attended yesterday’s meeting, Crs Milne, Cherry and Ron Cooper voted to stop work on the ILS. Country Labor Reece Byrnes opposed the motion.
Liberal councillors James Owen and Warren Polglase were unable to attend, but both said they would have voted against stopping work.
“There seems to be some silly games going on here,” Cr Owen said. “It’s very frustrating.”
Cr Polglase said mayors used to ask when to hold extraordinary meetings to ensure as many councillors as possible could attend.
The Bulletin understands Cr Milne circulated the same mayoral minute before Thursday’s full council meeting but decided not to put it forward until late Friday afternoon.
Work on the ILS will continue until a response is received from the federal or state governments. Cr Milne did not return calls yesterday.
The airport said: “Gold Coast Airport has carefully followed relevant regulations regarding early works for the ILS. Incorrect claims have been made about work being carried out on the NSW Crown Reserve, beyond the approved footprint”.