By Cameron Atfield
Not everybody would welcome an airport in their backyard, but Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale thinks that's exactly what his city needs.
Archerfield Airport, in Brisbane's southwest, has put itself forward as a possible secondary airport for Brisbane's commercial airline traffic.
But Cr Pisasale said Archerfield was the wrong location for a secondary Brisbane airport and the Lockyer Valley, between Ipswich, Toowoomba and Gatton, would be a better option.
"Ipswich is the fastest growing area and if you look at that area between Ipswich, Goodna, Gatton, Somerset and all those western suburbs of Brisbane, it's easier for them to come out this way to get a flight to Sydney or Melbourne," he said.
"It'd take away all the congestion from Brisbane. It's about Ipswich being part of a solution, not part of the problem."
Cr Pisasale said an airport in such a semi-rural setting would be able to cater for all domestic flights and run without a curfew.
Noise complaints would be minimal, he said, because of the sparse rural population.
"We've got RAAF Base Amberley, so we're used to aircraft noise," Cr Pisasale said.
"We need a spot out in a more rural area where there's no curfew."
Ipswich City councillor Paul Tully, a delegate to the Australian Mayoral Aviation Council, described Amberley's bid as a "hare-brained plan" that would ruin suburbs.
Cr Tully said residents in the greater Springfield, Goodna and Redbank Plains area could suffer with low-level jet planes routinely flying over their homes. Brisbane suburbs, including Mt Ommaney, Oxley and Sunnybank, would also be affected, he said.
"This is a half-baked plan by the operators of Archerfield Airport which could have a disastrous environmental impact on thousands of Brisbane and Ipswich residents," Cr Tully said.
"It would have to be about the worst location in southeast Queensland for another airport."
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