Time for Government to drive airport plan

TARRAS residents have had a negative reaction to the prospect of an international airport in their back yard. I don’t blame them.

Whatever the merits of the argument, there’s one thing I think everyone can agree with, that there is no need for three, or even two, international airports within an hour’s drive from each other.

This is a much bigger issue than looking solely at the question of an airport at Tarras.

Central Otago has a major issue with what should happen with its airports. Queenstown is constrained and faces huge opposition to increased capacity. Wanaka people are fighting to avoid their airport becoming jetcapable.

There are questions of tourist numbers and growth, emissions, climate change, sustainability, and dispersal of tourists.

Queenstown and the region must devise a plan to enable diversification away from the primary reliance on tourism. Central to all these issues is the location and growth (?) of a single airport for the region.

Such a holistic examination involves two councils, Queenstown Airport Corporation and Christchurch International Airport Ltd together with affected communities. But we can’t leave this decision to any one of those main players. QAC and CIAL as competitors are unlikely to cooperate and have no incentive to deal with, or even control over, many of the key issues they create through their existence.

The Central Otago District Council has been blindsided by the Tarras proposal and has no control over Queenstown or Wanaka issues anyway.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council to date has shown it will do anything to keep the airport at Queenstown and seems unprepared to consider any alternative.

It is time that these core issues are examined by a body that has wider and less biased views. Central Government should lead and direct this discussion because noone else appears capable of doing so.

David Jerram

FlightPlan2050

[Abridged]