The 12-month trial of the voluntary agreement will begin on June 1, with a report to be brought back to council in December at the six-month mark.

Mayor Peta Pinson spoke for the endorsement of the FNA and said increased aircraft noise from circuit training is an issue for residents.

"We have received numerous complaints in the last term (about aircraft noise) and it was a concern of our community in the lead up to the Local Government Election as well," she said.

"Community groups that are outspoken about this issue, whilst they understand that this is a voluntary agreement, they are quite pleased that council is actively doing something."

At the Ordinary Council Meeting held on October 21, 2020, council resolved to investigate the establishment of a formal FNA that includes practical measures to minimise general aviation aircraft noise.

"Because council owns the airport, we need to stay across this and that's our level of commitment - that staff are going to monitor it over the next 12 months," Cr Pinson said.

Port Macquarie Airport is a public aerodrome operating 24 hours a day, seven days per week. An important measure of the agreement is the voluntary undertaking by local operators to avoid continuous, high frequency (repetitive) circuit training operations on Sundays and Public Holidays.

The draft FNA includes the following list of nine voluntary undertakings to mitigate the impact of aircraft noise on adjacent residents:

Conduct continuous circuit training during the Circuit Training Hours of Operation, being:

The draft FNA has been endorsed by the two main pilot training operators based at Port Macquarie Airport, the Australian International Aviation College (AIAC) and Hastings District Flying Club (HDFC), which, prior to COVID, performed over 70 per cent of total aircraft movements and 90 per cent of training movements at the airport.

"Aircraft operators have come to the table and that's always a good sign, when two parties come to the table to talk about things," Cr Pinson said.

Councillor Nik Lipovac agreed: "I'm in full agreement. better to be doing something than nothing."

Councillor Sharon Griffiths spoke against the motion and said this will see council spend more money on monitoring.

"I spoke to people that were actually complaining about this and they live in close proximity to the airport. For me, if I'm choosing to live in a location that is close to an airport, you're going to have aircraft noise. I think that's just a given," she said.

"The email that we received from residents is that they do intend to take further action."

Cr Pinson said although living near an airport does mean increased noise, circuit training poses even more noise pollution.

"I agree that if you live near an airport then you have to expect airport noise, but this isn't about airport noise it's about continuous buzzing of circuit training," she said.

The draft FNA will be implemented on a 12-month trial basis, with a report presented to the December 2022 council meeting and a post -implementation review reported back to council in June 2023.

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