"At least 10,000 proposed new homes could be stopped if the new standard is adopted," said Chris Johnson, from the Urban Taskforce, a group representing the development industry. The federal government has said noise at Badgerys Creek will be less than at Sydney Airport and residents are unlikely to hear noise greater than a passing car. Credit:Brendon Thorne That area encompasses two of Sydney's planned major centres of population growth, to the airport's north and south around the suburbs of Austral and Marsden Park. It also takes in existing homes in Blacktown. The state government has said it will not change from existing noise guidelines for now. But it is refusing to rule out future changes. "We will review these standards in the future when the airport plan is further developed," Planning Minister Rob Stokes said.

The federal proposal is likely to revive debate on aircraft noise, an issue that last rose to prominence in the mid-1990s with the introduction of a third runway at Sydney Airport. Existing standards would allow homes to be built within the vicinity of the airport to be subject to up to 20 and 50 interruptions of 60 decibels or higher each night. But federal aviation bureaucrats have been pushing a new measure that would prevent homes from being built in areas subject to no more than six such interruptions. Sixty-decibel interruptions are roughly equivalent to the sound of a truck driving past a home at a distance of 20 metres. While the state government determines planning standards for land around the airport, acoustic engineer Steven Cooper said if the federal government made the new guideline a national standard or policy it could pose planning difficulties.

"[If they] push this through, the consequences will be massive," he said. "There should be a proper and open discussion about the consequences of all this but instead it's hidden away in the back of a [draft plan]." The federal government's draft environment plan says new guidelines will be "instrumental" to future airport planning, but a spokeswoman for the federal Transport department said it had not finalised its noise management plans and that it would continue to refer to existing standards. Existing standards were developed in the 1970s from surveys of those who lived near airports and their tolerance for noise. But federal aviation authorities are backing a new set of measures for new airports, based on a generic human tolerance for noise pollution – not of people already accustomed to planes flying overhead. The new guidelines are being pushed by agencies including the National Airports Safeguarding Advisory Group, a body of top officials from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and state and commonwealth bureaucracies.

The new standard has met significant opposition from developers but support from airport operators who have an interest in keeping land near their properties free. "It is essential that [new] housing around Badgerys Creek can go ahead … Sydney needs 33,000 new homes a year," Mr Johnson said. But the state government disputes that the issue will affect Sydney's development in western Sydney's growth areas, which it says will focus firstly on creating new jobs. "We will then plan for areas close by for people to live … where the noise [effects are] negligible or can be mitigated," it said. "We expect that there will be ample supply for homes."

Loading The federal government has said noise at Badgerys Creek will be less than at Sydney Airport and residents are unlikely to hear noise greater than a passing car. The airport will be operational in the middle of the next decade.