Tenterfield Shire Council general manager Damien Connor – while commending the intentions of those pursuing a better patient transfer service for the district – said an upgraded airstrip is not in council’s plans or priorities as the town just doesn’t have the financial capacity to support the upgrade or its ongoing maintenance.
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He said cloud cover and the strip’s location next to a hill are among the factors determining the strip’s suitability for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and an upgrade won’t fix that. Furthermore a population of at least 50,000 is required to justify a commercial air operation, which in turn is needed to meet the economic benefit component of securing a Building Better Regions Fund grant.
Moreover the ongoing cost of $100,000 a year to maintain the facility – meeting stringent Civil Aviation Safety Authority requirements – is beyond the community’s capacity, he said. Mr Connor suggested a first step would be to raise $50,000-100,000 for a feasibility study which, if the figures could be made to stack up, would then become a water-tight plan with which to pursue funding.
