The legal status of businesses operating at the Motueka Aerodrome have been called into question but there’s little chance of their eviction from the facility.

Several irregularities in the way Tasman District Council has run the aerodrome have been uncovered while the council investigated complaints made by a local business owner.

Council chief executive Leonie Rae described the situation as “complex”.

“These businesses have been there for quite some time, and there were some assumptions made many years ago around the operation and whether they needed [resource] consent or not to operate.”

Several businesses operate on the aerodrome, including a skydiving business and an aircraft maintenance business.

An independent expert will be working through each irregularity on a case-by-case basis to determine which businesses might require resource consents.

“The important thing is that this can be rectified,” Rae said. “It's just going to take a little bit of time to work through it.”

The irregularities began to be uncovered in March as the council investigated complaints from a local business owner regarding activities and leases at the aerodrome.

The complaints followed 32 Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) requests by the business owner about the aerodrome.

If it’s discovered, “through no fault of their own”, that a business has been operating without a resource consent but required one, it will be able to continue operating as it applies to receive a consent.

The council will also help affected businesses through the process, though Rae couldn’t confirm if that would extend to covering the cost of the application.

“We will look at what we could do for them.”

It’s also unclear if the Nelson Aviation College and the Motueka Aero Club are affected.

“They may well be fine, but we need to do some thorough checking and make sure that they're on solid ground.”

The time it will take to address every irregularity, some of which trace back decades, will vary but the council will keep those affected informed throughout the process.
Letters were sent to those affected on Tuesday.

Rae said she didn't want people to be nervous about the situation.

“I want them to have confidence that we’ll help them to correct this,” she said.

“The Motueka Aerodrome is incredibly important to council, and it's incredibly important to the community, so they have our full support.”

Eviction from the aerodrome is currently an “unlikely scenario” and might only occur in a situation where a business refuses to acquire a resource consent if it’s determined one is needed.

However, the council still needs to investigate each irregularity to be certain.

“We'll keep everyone well-posted in terms of where we're at through the process.”

Rae said it’s not unusual for councils to discover irregularities like this.

“We've been a very small council, it has grown very quickly, so we haven't necessarily had the eyes all over the right things at times…

“It's just disappointing that we didn't pick it up ourselves.”

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