Aero club power bid ‘tone-deaf’
Aviators face ‘real fight’ from community facing compulsory land purchase, writes Caroline Williams.
A plan to expand operations at Auckland’s North Shore Airport through increased powers has left residents fearing for their land and future generations.
The North ShoreAero Club, which operates the North Shore Airport in Dairy Flat, has lodged an application for airport authority status. According to the Ministry of Transport website, this would give the airport new powers and responsibilities, such as the ability to draw up bylaws – subject to central government approval – and the power to apply to buy land under compulsory purchase.
The airport could also seek Auckland Unitary Plan amendments to impose noise controls, restrict houses from being built nearby and limit the height of nearby structures.
The club described the airport as ‘‘an integral part of the local community’’. Despite this, its application stated it existed primarily for its members, ‘‘although the community is very close second in priority’’.
However, not all neighbours agreed the application process was within the best interests of the community.
Dairy Flat Landowners
Group chair Brian Sutton said many locals were not informed of the application or invited to a public meeting held by the ministry on October 29.
‘‘While they talk about being open and consultative, they’re anything but.’’
Some residents owned a lot of land and ‘‘were in no mood to sell’’, which is why, Sutton believed, the club wanted the option of compulsory purchase.
‘‘[They can] forget it,’’ he said, adding many residents would be engaging lawyers.
Francesca De Jong, who has lived on Bawden Rd, under the airport’s flight path, for 30 years, described the application as ‘‘incredibly tone-deaf’’.
She said it didn’t seem logical to develop an airport given the area’s current traffic issues and lack of transport infrastructure.
‘‘If it does go through, they are going to have a real fight with the community. They won’t go down quietly,’’ she said. De Jong, who is pregnant, feared for the next generation if the plan went ahead.
‘‘It’s my family that will be affected. We’d be really gutted if this went ahead, it would just ruin everything we love about Dairy Flat.’’
North Shore Aero Club general manager John Punshon said airport authority status would not increase the number of planes in the sky or size of the aircraft, nor alter the routes being flown.
Currently, there are two airlines flying to and from Great Barrier Island, and while Punshonwould like to see more such services, it was up to the airlines to schedule more flights.
‘‘We are just the airport and will not be operating any such services ourselves.’’
Punshon believed most of those opposed to the plan had misunderstood what airport authority status actually meant.
‘‘Wewould like to reassure the community that we are here to work with them, not against them.’’
Feedback on the application can be submitted via the ministry website until November 30.