Concerns over access during a flood emergency have led to the Shire of Carnarvon voting to revisit plans for a new airport.

The decision to revisit the practicality of moving the airport came after Shire president Karl Brandenburg asked for councillors to consider the impact of a new flood mitigation plan on the proposals.

Cr Brandenburg said the proposed site, north of the plantation area, would be cut off from the town during a flood event like the one last year, hindering emergency and rescue efforts.

The North West Coastal Highway was closed for 15 days last December due to flooding which meant the airport was the only way to transport people, supplies and fresh water in and out of the town, according to Cr Brandenburg.

“The airport was the only lifeline during the floods,” he said.

To build an all-weather road to the airport to ensure it was always accessible would be too expensive for the Shire, he said.

But two councillors voted the motion to revisit the airport proposals down – Cr Bill Hopkinson and Cr Eddie Smith.

Cr Smith, who is also on the Shire Airport Working Group, said revisiting the airport location was a step backwards.

He said people’s emotions got in the way of proven engineering.

“The airport has gone past its use-by date and the Federal Government decided in 1980 it would be economically beneficial to relocate the airport,” he said. “The cost of upgrading the airport at the current site would be huge.”

“I think it is absolutely abhorrent that we are going to spend more money on another master plan that has already been done to death.”

Carnarvon’s current airport is limited to the size and type of aircraft it can accommodate due to the length and quality of the runways.