Council's airport fibs put region in tailspin A CENTRAL Coast council has been caught misleading residents over its push to hijack Sydney's second airport, confidential documents show. Wyong Shire Council publicly billed a proposed 900ha site at Bushells Ridge as a possible location for a "regional airport" similar to Coffs Harbour or Port Macquarie airports. Behind the scenes it was hoping the airport would become Sydney's second but played that down publicly for fear of community backlash. The proposal was pushed through as an 11th-hour inclusion to its draft Local Environment Plan 2012 in December - a document that will determine all future development in the shire for the next 25 years - with public submissions set to close today. But a Government Information Public Access request shows council staff consistently referred to the bid as a "second Sydney airport" internally and in briefings with Canberra and even warned it should be described publicly as a "type 3," or regional airport, to avoid a community backlash. "I am a little bit concerned about the reaction of local residents when they find out that their land has been identified as a possible site for the second Sydney airport or that their land is located in proximity of the same," planning and policy director Martin Johnson wrote in an email to the council's general manager Michael Whittaker in October. Mr Whittaker replied: "I note your concern about the possible adverse community feedback - I suggest type 3 airport as a descriptor rather than 'second Sydney airport'." Wyong mayor Doug Eaton last month accused the media of a beat-up after The Daily Telegraph reported the council's plans for a second Sydney airport. "The key words here are 'regional airport'," he wrote in his weekly local newspaper column. The Sydney media have built it up to be our grab for Sydney's second airport. But all we ever proposed was a single runway, type 3 regional airport, similar to Coffs Harbour or Port Macquarie. Mr Eaton has repeatedly stated it was meant to be a small regional airport despite the proposal featuring a 2600m-long runway, which would make it the second longest runway in NSW behind Sydney's main runway and capable of accommodating international flights. Yarramalong resident Laurie Eyes, who lodged the GIPA request, said Mr Eaton and the council had been caught out in a "bare-faced lie." Back-peddling yesterday, Mr Eaton said he strongly refuted claims he or the council misled the public in that the proposal started out as a push for a second airport. But he said that, as the process unfolded, Premier Barry O'Farrell made it clear the government would not support it and the land earmarked would only handle a 2600m runway, not a 4000m runway needed for an international airport. "The general manager made it clear to the council officer overseeing our draft LEP process we can no longer call our proposal Sydney's second airport because of these constraints," Mr Eaton said.