Busselton Margaret River Regional Airport Expansion

Overview

The City of Busselton currently operates the Busselton Margaret River Regional Airport (situated on Vasse Highway, Busselton) that allows for general aviation and closed charter fly-in fly-out operations.

The City of Busselton is proposing to extend, widen and strengthen the existing runway and associated infrastructure of the Busselton Margaret River Regional Airport. This is a revised proposal to the current environmental approval under Ministerial Statement No. 1009. As a part of this revised proposal the City of Busselton is seeking to:

• Modify the existing Busselton Margaret River Regional Airport operations to allow additional aircraft operations to Code 4C jet aircraft, such as Boeing 737-800 and Airbus 320-200. 
• Change the standard hours of operation. This would involve a change to the current Noise Management Plan (2015) required by Condition 4 of Ministerial Statement No. 1009. This management plan defines the standard hours of operation for each aircraft type and outlines criterion for the implementation of noise amelioration measures.

Why your views matter

At this initial stage of the EIA process, comment is simply sought on whether or not the EPA should assess a proposal and, if so, what level of assessment is considered appropriate.

The following diagram shows the stage this referral is at:

What happens next

Following the seven day public comment period and consideration of any comments received, the EPA will decide whether or not this proposal requires environmental impact assessment and, if so, what level of assessment will be applied.

The Chairman's decisions on level of assessment are released each Monday on the EPA's website.