PENINSULA Aero Club will submit a new application to Mornington Peninsula Shire Council in an attempt to have it lift the ban on flights during the controversial “holy hour”, 9.30-10.30am Sundays.
Club president Jack Vevers said a knock-back would give the club the trigger to bypass the shire and seek a ruling from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
A previous application to the council’s planning services meeting to remove the one hour no-fly ban was withdrawn by the club alarmed at a shire officer’s recommendation to ban take-offs and landings from sunset on Saturdays to 9am Sundays in exchange for the lifting of the “holy hour” ban (“Higher ruling sought on holy hour” The News 29/5/19).
“We are giving the council every opportunity to do as they said,” Mr Vevers said. “They asked us to apply to have the holy hour ban removed from our permit and said there were no other problems and that they would approve it. Then they added the sunset Saturday night to 9am Sunday ban which is completely unworkable.”
Fearing prosecution, Mr Vevers said the club was forbidding take offs and landings during “holy hour” despite not having observed it for more than 45 years.
“The council has already agreed that the ban is obsolete, but then they lumped in the other restrictions,” Mr Vevers said.
“We don’t want to break any laws, but we do want our day in court.”
First published in the Western Port Times – 5 June 2019
