Help save our airfield

[Guest Jake.f]

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[turboplanner]

At this point either it's all over, or it's still a gleam in the eyes of a developer and his new friends. This is the strategy period, which is best done privately by a professional

 

 

[johnm]

Yep .................... I'd be going for professional advise - per the previous posts - a town planning consultant

 

Town planning is a tangled web of planning jargon and mountains of legislation

 

I'm assuming all planning legislation has the same skeleton irrespective of what state you live in - so ........... I'd also go and see the relevant Council town planning department and get some feed back - the developer may have a consultant town planner, but equally the Council town planning department also represents all persons in the shire - yourself as a ratepayer and you as a user of the airport - you should be able to glean some information and preliminary advice from them

 

JM

 

 

[turboplanner]

Does the Club own the land?

 

If so you're free of developers. If not, you never know, there may be changes in the family which owns it etc. As far as approaching the Planning Department or the CEO, think about it - this change, which could see long term restrictions or termination placed on the Club (you would be moving from your "as of right" position to another classification which could be changed as part of Stage 2). If the proposal for the change didn't come from club members, it came from somewhere else.

 

And if it came from somewhere else, and got momentum up to the point that Council is considering changing the Planning Scheme to make flying "legal" (which it already is), then there has to be some co-operation somewhere within the Council.

 

Apart from that, does anyone believe the story?

 

 

[Powerin]

I'm interested to know how much weight *online* petitions such as this carry? Do they have the same impact as written ones? We have all "signed" it so that means Jaspers has petitioners from all over Australia....which is hardly a representitive sample of local stakeholders. I guess it could be said that we all want to fly in and boost the local economy with our tourist dollars.

 

The reason I ask is because I would hate to be relying on this petition only to have it rejected in the final hour because it wasn't taken seriously.

 

 

[turboplanner]

I've dealt with a lot of them. A lot of Councils choose a regular Council Meeting where a number of Petitions cam be received for the notice of Councillors.You could be unlucky enough to get one of these Councils and be on the table with petitions against dust aournd the shopping centre, or trolleys being left out on the streets.

 

Or you could be lucky and have the petition presented on the night your case is heard by the Council.

 

In both cases the Mayor is courteous and makes you feel it was worthwhile, but it only takes about 20 seconds to be read out and it's over.

 

The Councillor of course will already have had a look at it before the meeting to see which bastards are complaining about them, and whether they are under threat electorally.

 

Self preservation has led to a number of Councils adopting a multi-representative Ward system, where up to four Councillors all represent the one Ward as in the case of Ward 1 in Shoalhaven City Council where Crs Andrew Guile, Gary Kearney, Nigel Soames and Gareth Ward are represented. You can't knock them all out at the next election, so they tend to be more bullet proof, and in some Councils less likely to listen to constituents.

 

Having said all that it's still an important component of any campaign because it may bolster a Councillor or Planning Officer and encourage them to take it seriously.

 

Several hundred per cent better than that is a large, well behaved (no placards or shouting) gallery attendance on the night, because it starts to make Councillors uncertain - is this what they'll face at the next election etc.

 

At Tribunal Hearings they usually cause an irritated look on the Member's face, often with the admonition that "we are not here for an emotional contest but to decide the case based on its fact"

 

So if you don't have facts you're dead.

 

 

[68volksy]

Petition signed.

 

My father's a town planning consultant based in Goulburn/Sydney and would be happy to provide some professional advice in this area if needed. PM me if you'd like some details.

 

 

[Powerin]

Peter, in all honesty, I must confess that during my time on local Council, we paid no attention to petitions. A signed, non-proforma, letter always was recognised. Bottom line is the more locals that write their "own letter" of support will carry far more weight, but this petition, signed by people from all over Australia could have a cursory influence. I hope everyone put their addresses on it, otherwise again the impact is diminished significantly.

Thanks Dexter, that's about what I thought.

So to the Jaspers crew: we are all 100% in support of you, but I would suggest that you take care when presenting a petition which has been obviously generated from an Internet campaign. It could be counterproductive and decrease your credibility. Shoalhaven ratepayers (ie voters) ar the ones you need to get on-side.

 

Having said that, it's been a long time since I've visited the area and had hoped I could test my yet-to-be-aquired nav skills by flying in to Jaspers one day. I'd be happy to write a personal email to councillors explaining my desire to spend tourist dollars in the area and that Jaspers would be the gateway! Would that help?

 

 

[Guest dad]

Even quicker with autofill

 

Peter

 

 

[fly_tornado]

The petition is sort of relevant when many users are tourists

 

 

[winsor68]

" Thanx guys....http://scrfc.com.au/save-jaspers-brush-airfield-petition/"

Really?....more like 10 seconds!

 

good luck Motz

I reckon I did it so quick I went backwards in time...

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

Hmmm i forgot about the donuts at Berry. hmmmmmdooonutsss

 

Similar to the Sydney/ Hunter Valley day trips. It would be quite an enjoyable day out. Beautiful coast line to fly down, spend the morning browsing the stores in Berry and lunch. Jump on the mini bus and a few hours of checking out the area, great view from top of Cambawarra, quick run down the hill back to the strip. Maybe top the day off with a tandem skydive or TIF, before the trip back. Council (Australia) is really slipping on this sort of thing. Maybe a chat to the chamber of commerce and local touristy promotors can get a bit of pulling power for fronting council.

 

 

[XAIRVTW]

Done & remember the trick is to make yourselfs more vocial to council, than the group of residents that are complaining. Good luck its a great airfield.

 

 

[cheyenne]

Done, I have landed there, and visited the strip by road when ever I'm down that way.

 

Adrian

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Thanx to evryone. I have remained silent in this thread as im sure our 'friends' who wish the airfield shut down will find this site, if they havn't already, and I don't want to give anything away.

 

All of you have shown fantastic suport both here and through other means. It warms the heart, it really does, to see so much suport flooding in from all over the country. The petition is going bannanas, and some other websites have picked up the ball aswel.

 

I have passed all your suggestions on to those that are smarter than me and recent discussions with the powers that be seem very promising.

 

Once again, thank you all.

 

Andrew

 

 

[Guest davidh10]

Good to hear, Motz.

 

 

[shags_j]

I'll come out of retirement to sign this one!

 

 

[bilby54]

Glad to help. Done

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Thanx dex.

 

Yes, thats Roberts standard response, if you read between the lines you can see his direction. The New LEP is about to go on exhibition and allows for the land to be zoned Rural D1 (i think) which has provisions for an airfield.

 

The fact we have been there so long could also be cause for the Land Environment court to overule on the legislation, which would require numbers from elected councillors, which we have.

 

All hope is not lost yet.

 

cheers

 

 

[Guest pookemon]

Petition signed. We have a similar problem here (though I think the council, who supported the setup of a singapore flying school at the airport, aren't listening to the complainers - as they shouldn't). People who have bought their land in the last 10 years have complained about the noise from the airport (one of the complainants is my brother in law) - the airport has been there since the 30's (though there was flying from the site in 1914-15). It continually amazes me that people will buy land near an airport and then complain about the aircraft. When I win Tattslotto I'm going to buy a B52 and fly it every day from sun-up to sun-down - or maybe a super-connie. :hittinghead:

 

 

[jerrajerra]

Done

 

Just so bloody typical of these damn complainants