“If the Bega Valley Shire is to capitalise on its potential for growth, it is critical that significant investment is made in the development of the Merimbula Airport.

“The Bega Valley Shire Council recognises this fact which underpinned the creation of the Merimbula Airport Master Plan in 2013.”

Whilst the BVSRRA agrees with Bega Valley Shire Council (BVSC) on the importance of Merimbula Airport to the future economic success of the shire, it questions BVSC’s strategy to optimise that success.

The BVSRRA believes that BVSC’S strategy is based on wishful thinking, predicated as it is on the lazy notion that “if we build the infrastructure, the growth will come”.

In the view of the BVSRRA, such an approach smacks of an almost naïve ideological mindset to development & fails to appreciate that significant investment in the creation of infrastructure needs to be driven & justified by real demand.

Whilst some may think that such considerations are unimportant when the capital funding of the proposed development will come from the NSW state government, rather than residents and ratepayers, the facts are that any major upgrade of Merimbula airport infrastructure and its surrounds will likely give rise to a significant increase in operating costs, which will be borne by residents/ratepayers on an ongoing basis.

Given that BVSC recently advised a NSW government Upper House Inquiry into regional air services that the current financial performance of Merimbula airport is ‘marginal’, the BVSRRA believes that residents/ratepayers have every reason to question the implications of significant additional operating costs accruing to the operation of the airport, in particular if the anticipated tourist volume growth did not materialise.

BVSC’S decision to pursue $15 million in grant funding from the NSW government to finance the further development of Merimbula Airport is predicated on its much vaunted Merimbula Airport Master Plan, approved in October, 2013.

The BVSRRA would remind residents/ratepayers that BVSC’s Master Plan is not supported by a comprehensive Business Plan but rather by a ‘wish list’ of possible economic activities that might give rise to a future increase in tourist traffic volumes through the airport.

When the draft Master Plan for Merimbula Airport was released for public comment, both the BVSRRA & MAUG (Merimbula Airport Users Group) highlighted the flawed basis of the Plan & in particular its reliance on demonstrably exaggerated statistical assumptions to justify what appeared to be pre-determined conclusions.

That both the MAUG & BVSRRA submissions were ignored by BVSC certainly doesn’t support claims that it ‘consulted widely’ in the development of the Master Plan & might also suggest that BVSC was determined to pursue its ambitious fantasy for Merimbula Airport regardless of the fact that it had no economic basis for doing so & regardless of the ultimate potential economic cost that could accrue to the shire as a result.

In all the circumstances, the BVSRRA again calls on BVSC to develop a formal Business Plan for Merimbula Airport to test the validity of its Master Plan & to provide a genuine business case in support of the airport’s future development, rather than pursuing an investment strategy predicated largely on wishful thinking.

For those residents/ratepayers interested in assessing the merits of BVSC’s plans for themselves, copies of the Master Plan, together with copies of the MAUG & BVSRRA submissions in response to the Plan can be viewed on the BVSRRA website at http://www.begavalleyshireratepayers.asn.au/2013-submissions.html

John Richardson

Secretary, Bega Valley Shire Residents & Ratepayers Association