Perth Airport has warned it will be expensive for City of Canning ratepayers to fund an aircraft noise test after the council voted to seek quotes from acoustics professionals.
Councillor Jesse Jacobs raised the motion requesting the city to investigate potential extra plane noise following completion of the new runway to look at how it could be reduced and inform residents about the development plan.
Perth Airport plans to finish its new runway by 2028 which will run parallel to the existing north-south one and replace the cross runway.
The council voted six votes to four in favour of seeking quotes for the tests despite Perth Airport chief strategy officer Tony Brun saying on the night the city would be wasting its time.
Mr Brun said Perth Airport was one of the few in the world with a section of its website dedicated to aircraft noise.
He said flight patterns could be changed to improve noise over suburbs and that every five years maps were re-drawn to determine the best air routes.
“Aircraft noise is a significant matter for the airport and for the industry,” he said.
“We don’t think you’ll find any value in challenging a system that is technically robust and morally sound.”
A Perth Airport spokesperson told Examiner Newspapers the airport had already conducted aircraft noise tests throughout the Perth metropolitan region and an independent federal body had approved its results.
The spokesperson said the city was free to conduct any tests but did not see the value in doing so.
“The Aircraft Noise Exposure Forecast work commissioned by Perth Airport as part of its 2014 Master Plan was both detailed and expensive,” they said.
“The City of Canning can choose to spend its ratepayers’ money on similar assessments, however it is unlikely to add anything further to what is already on the public record.”
Mr Jacobs said he raised the motion after he became concerned a new runway will increase aircraft noise over Canning.
“The elephant in the room is originally the deal was they would keep the cross runway, add a third runway and sound share,” he said.
“Now all of a sudden they’ve said they’re going to drop the cross runway, Canning can go to hell and South Perth and Victoria Park are going to be happy.”
Mr Jacobs said the change would mean all air traffic would enter and leave Perth from north and south and would effectively double down the noise over the city.
The council voted in favour six votes to four with Mayor Paul Ng and councillors Christine Cunningham, David Brown and Margaret Hall voting against.
Dr Cunningham represents the Beeloo Ward, which takes the brunt of low-level aircraft traffic over Canning.
