9.2. Planning issues
The land use conXicts between Canberra airport and residential land developers underline the strategic planning issue that became increasingly apparent over the course of the case study. It raises the issue of the extent to which airports can dominate planning processes to serve their ends. For example, the ACT Government’s policy and planning agenda has sought to support aviation-driven assumptions such as the linking of airport expansion with regional economic development. Relevant here are Upham’s (2001, p. 247) observations in the United Kingdom and the European Union (EU), where he notes that airport practice and government policy aim to mitigate the impacts of aviation, but not at the expense of aviation growth. Therefore sustainability “should not be taken to mean a realised commitment to environmental impact reduction”, but more “a consideration of environmental and social impacts alongside environmental and Wnancial performance”. For the major EU airports reviewed in his study, he Wnds no evidence of a reduction in environmental impact or a commitment to consumption or waste limits.