Still grounded

New report gives no sign of resolution on second Sydney airport.

In setting out to evaluate the feasibility of building a second Sydney airport in Wilton, the site 80km south of the city’s CBD that emerged as the federal government’s preferred option last year, a government-commissioned study released May 10 employed a perfectly logical metric. It compared Wilton to the next likeliest option, the 1700ha site at Badgerys Creek in Sydney’s west purchased by the government in the 1980s as a home for a future airport, but since shelved due to encroaching development and resulting political opposition.

The result of the comparison, however, is so unflattering for Wilton that it will be hard indeed for the government’s preference to survive.