A noise monitoring service has been described as a token gesture by a Keilor resident.
Keilor Residents and Ratepayers Association member Susan Jennison says a drop in the number of complainants about aircraft noise does not reflect the suffering inflicted on Keilor area residents by low-flying planes and the frequency of overnight services.
The latest quarterly complaints data from Airservice’s Noise Complaints and Information Service reveal 25 Keilor and Keilor Park residents lodged complaints in the year to March 30.
In the previous 12-month period, 37 Keilor and Keilor East residents submitted complaints about aircraft noise and airport operations.
Ms Jennison said Airservices’ complaints service was “a token gesture that does not reflect what people are experiencing”.
She said the service’s role had been diminished after it ended its message bank service for after-hours complaints more than a year ago.
“Now you have to go to Webtrak online and fill out a form,” Ms Jennison said.
“Airservices’ response, even then, is they will ‘determine the appropriate response … if asked a relevant question or … noise issue to which we can reasonably respond’.”
The alternative was to ring the service during business hours, but she said working people often forgot or lacked the time to make a report the next day.
More complainants about Melbourne Airport’s operations came from the Keilor area than any other suburb, according to the latest data.
Thirteen people from the Keilor area complained in the first three months of this year.
There were three in the fourth quarter of last year, four in the previous quarter and five in the first quarter.
An Airservices spokesman said the volume of complaints from Keilor residents was to be expected because Keilor was affected by runway 16 departures, which typically peaked in warmer months due to seasonal wind patterns.
“Aircraft generally land and depart into the wind for safety reasons, and wind is a major factor in the selection of a runway,” he said.
