Angered by the failure to reveal draft flight paths, Blue Mountains mayor Mark Greenhill has called for the Forum On Western Sydney Airport (FOWSA) to be reformed.
"In the new year, I will ask my colleagues to support me in calling for the Forum On Western Sydney Airport to be reformed because it isn't working," he said.
"It is outrageous we still don't even know where the planes will be flying and our federal MP should be there (on FOWSA).
"FOWSA needs to be a real consultation forum that allows advocacy as well and should involve a representative for this area who is elected by the people. I would stand behind [Macquarie MP] Susan Templeman being that representative.
"The Western Sydney Airport will be commencing operations in 2026 yet we still have no draft flight paths. The last flight paths they issued, back in 2015, showed planes merging over the lower Blue Mountains, just a few thousand feet above our heads, 24/7. The outcry was so intense these plans were withdrawn and they appear to have been in witness protection ever since," said the mayor.
"Whether you oppose or support the airport, I oppose it, surely we all agree that just a few years before operations begin the community deserves to be consulted about where the planes will actually fly? The eastern suburbs would not be treated like this. Why should we?"
The mayor said the government needs to "come clean and tell us what is about to hit us".
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"They were able to produce draft flight paths in 2015, until the outcry. Surely they can now."
He will take a mayoral minute to council in the new year calling for change to the Forum On Western Sydney Airport to create a real consultative assembly that includes Susan Templeman.
A spokesperson for the federal government did not respond to the mayor's criticisms of FOWSA when contacted by the Gazette, only saying: "The airport is scheduled for completion in 2026 and flight paths will be developed for community consultation well before then."
