Media Release

20 February, 2007

Council Promotes District Plan Change

Waitakere City Council is reminding residents that the closing date for feedback on a proposed district plan change (Plan Change 22), which affects land currently occupied by the Whenuapai Airbase, is March 7.

The proposed district plan change, which was notified in December, allows for the creation of an Airport Special Area at Whenuapai.

This plan change, if adopted, would hold open the opportunity for Whenuapai to be used as a commercial airport in the future.

Just over 200 submissions have been received so far, the majority from individual submitters.

Councillor Penny Hulse, chairman of the Waitakere City Council’s City Development Committee, says feedback from the community has been largely positive as the move is seen as a necessary step so that the commercial airport option can be preserved as a possible future use.

“The plan change was originally notified as a result of the RNZAF’s plan to relocate to Ohakea in about 10 years. Waitakere City Council felt that we wanted to see the airport remain open for commercial flights,” Councillor Hulse says.

”It’s extremely important that we look to the future for what is potentially a very good opportunity for Waitakere – and indeed for the whole Auckland region.

“Auckland will need a second airport sooner or later. I don’t think anybody disputes that. We think we need it now for a variety of reasons including helping to reduce the congestion of millions of vehicles every year, crossing the region to Mangere," Councillor Penny Hulse says.

“Whenuapai is closer to more than 500,000 people than is Mangere. There would be huge cost and convenience benefits for the north western business sector, right now, if it had access to business flights at Whenuapai.

“This is about keeping options open. If we let the opportunity to keep Whenuapai slip away, it is very unlikely that we will ever get a viable second airport for the region. If in the end, we don’t use the option we will have lost nothing but if we let the option go now, we might lose one of the best economic assets in New Zealand,” says Councillor Hulse.

“The district plan changes we are proposing will protect an existing resource – an existing piece of infrastructure - for the future. This is no different to earmarking farmland for future use as a park.”

“Notification, however, is only the start of a long consultation process that will include multiple opportunities for the council and community to address key concerns and investigate any unknowns,” says Councillor Hulse.

In recognising the importance of the proposed plan change, the council doubled the statutory submission period (to 40 days).

Copies of the plan change are available at the council’s main service centre at Waitakere Central (Henderson Valley Rd, Henderson), and at libraries.

Submissions can be made by using standard forms, available from the council’s service centre, and on the council’s website at www.waitakere.govt.nz

Copies of the submission form are also available by phoning the council’s 24 hour call centre on 839 0400.

ENDS

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