Submissions show strong opposition to airport plans
COMMUNITY groups have claimed Queenstown Airport Corporation’s (QAC) proposals to extend its noise boundaries could cause an ‘‘alarming increase in tourism and tourist resentment’’, in their submissions opposing the plans.
Both the Frankton Community Association (FCA) and the Kelvin Peninsula Community Association (KPCA) have filed their submissions as part of a public consultation on the airport’s proposals. Both submissions showed overwhelming opposition.
Of the 73 residents asked by the KPCA how they felt about the proposals, 100% said they were ‘‘strongly against’’ the plans, and 181 out of 221 residents gave the same answer in a survey carried out by the FCA.
In the group’s submission, FCA chairman Glyn Lewers said the ‘‘recent gains in neighbourly cordiality between the Frankton community and the QAC would deteriorate substantially’’ if the current proposals were approved.
‘‘The reasons for this negative response can be distilled down to four common issues — the harmful effects to our quality of life, the loss of amenity value, the amplified infrastructure demands and an alarming increase in tourism and tourist resentment from within the community.’’
The FCA said these main issues became apparent during its engagement with the community and at a public meeting last week, attended by about 300 residents.
Votes taken at an emergency meeting held by the KPCA last week, before and after the QAC team spoke, both resulted in unanimous opposition to the airport’s plans.
The group outlined the views of residents that the airport’s plans to extend its noise boundaries into large residential areas, including Frankton Rd, Kelvin Heights and Lake Hayes Estate, would have a negative impact on their quality of life and their feeling towards tourism and tourists.
The majority would still be opposed even if nearby infra structure was built to accommodate the airport’s expansion, but many felt it would have a positive impact on the economy.
Both groups also raised concerns about the associated cost of home developments/ improvements due to acoustic treatment being required and the impact on residents’ health, including air pollution, the possibility of sleep disturbance, increased stress and hearing impairment.
A joint submission by the KPCA committee stated: ‘‘To make multimilliondollar decisions on development of Queenstown Airport, with huge and damaging impacts on our community, before such options are known would not appear to be a prudent move.’’
The airport has proposed increasing its annual aircraft movements from 15,700 to 41,600 by 2045.
This would mean more than doubling annual passenger movements (counting both arrivals and departures) from about 2.05 million to about 5.1 million.
The group requested that QAC hold off on finalising its proposed changes to Queenstown Lakes District Council’s district plan to allow its expansion, until both the Wanaka Master Plan and Queenstown 2050 vision were ‘‘adequately developed’’.
The airport’s fiveweeklong public consultation closed on Monday.
QAC said it still had to review submissions received before it could release any figures about community involvement in the consultation.
❛ The reasons for this negative response can be distilled down to four common issues . . .
Glyn Lewers