Six pilots and two farmers, representing community members on the aerodrome stakeholders group and part of the transport committee, have made a submission on both plans.

Th group includes commercial pilot John Robinson, Tony Brand, Jeff Moore and Hugh Brownlee; private pilots Richard May and Selwyn Ellis; and farmers Russell Peucker and Robert Kelm.

The same group criticised the draft transport report’s recommended Horsham bypass option, claiming it would be too expensive.

The stakeholders believe the bypass option east of Horsham would need to be elevated above the flood plain on a bridge-type structure, costing at least $300-million.

“Should the plan be adopted the capacity of the aerodrome to support the community, particularly in times of emergency will be compromised,” the group’s submission to the council stated. 

Future growth and revenue will also be stunted.” 

Horsham Rural City Council mayor Heather Phillips said she would not, at this stage, comment on the group’s claims.

“We are in the middle of the three-week submission period and we are getting really valuable feedback,” she said.

“Council has not adopted the consultant’s reports for either the aerodrome or the transport plan, we have put them out for community consultation.

“We will not be commenting on the detail of submissions at this stage.”

Cr Phillips said it was fabulous that stakeholders were speaking their mind and said the drafts could be rewritten but that would fall to the new council after the October election.

The group claimed the proposed future design for the runways would prevent planes from landing in poor visibility.

The pilots were also concerned that the proposed bypass location would increase the risk of plane crashes.

Aerodrome stakeholder and commercial pilot John Robinson said there was potential for bias created by hiring the same company that drafted the bypass option, AECOM, to evaluate the airport.

Cr Phillips said council officers believed AECOM was a large enough company that its departments would not influence each other when writing the aerodrome master plan after the bypass option.

“I accept that it could be seen to have some bias, but that is something we will look at after we have all the feedback in,” she said.

The pilots believe the proposed elevated bypass is too close to the north-south runway.

Mr Robinson said the proposed bypass would make the runway approach too steep for aircraft to land during low cloud without a precision guidance system.

“If you’re the air ambulance and the cloud is down to 300 feet, you can’t land at Horsham at the moment,” he said.

The pilots said implementing a 3.3-degree incline to accommodate a bypass near the runway would result in less commercial and emergency flights using Horsham Aerodrome.

Horsham Rural City mayor Heather Phillips said council welcomed all feedback on aerodrome and transport plans. 

She said she agreed three weeks was not an ideal length of time for feedback, but the council was trying to debate the drafts before council election caretaker mode began next month.