“Letters: Airport all plane sailing; Fair play in court; Upgrade spells jobs for the silent majority.” Central Coast Express Advocate, 17 July 1996.
This collection of three letters captures the sharply differing community responses to the restrictions placed on Warnervale Airport in 1996.
John Croyston argues that the legislation broadly reflected what Wyong Council had previously indicated it wanted and places residents’ wishes ahead of development and investment considerations. H Gifford addresses the legal and political controversy, distinguishing the Land and Environment Court’s consideration of legality from Parliament’s subsequent decision about whether the development should proceed.
Sally Rickard takes the opposing position, arguing strongly for the airport upgrade and associating it with jobs, investment and the Central Coast’s economic future. Her letter directly criticises Paul Crittenden’s Private Member’s Bill and claims that supporters of the airport constituted a “silent majority”.
Preserving the letters together is historically useful because the clipping demonstrates that community opinion surrounding Warnervale Airport was not uniform. Within a single newspaper letters section, readers were presented with arguments concerning local amenity and democratic representation alongside arguments for employment, investment and regional development.
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