A solution to the threat of Nelson’s only 18-hole championship golf course being halved by an airport runway extension could be one step closer as the council wades into land-use discussions.

Nelson Airport is seeking to enable the necessary planning and zoning framework to allow it to eventually extend its runway which would improve safety and is claimed to better cater to future low-emission aircraft.

However, the airport’s proposal would cut the Nelson Golf Club in half.

The airport’s contentious application was scrutinised at a plan change hearing in May.

The panel of independent commissioners adjourned the hearing to allow Nelson Airport to engage in further discussions with other affected parties, like the golf club, to see if they could find a mutually-agreeable solution before the conclusion of the hearing.

The two parties have since been in discussions about potential options for the reconfiguration of the golf club so the extension won’t force the club to close.

An architect has advised the club that constructing an 18-hole championship golf course would not be possible without use of the peninsula of land adjacent to the airport.

Golf club president Derek Drysdale wrote to Nelson Mayor Nick Smith last month saying that the airport had “conceded” that some of the peninsula land it uses for a grass runway could be used to reconfigure the golf course.

However, the land on which the airport sits, and much of the peninsula, is leased by Nelson Airport from Nelson City Council.

The council, a 50 per cent shareholder of the airport and the regulatory authority overseeing the plan change application, has been keeping itself at arm’s length from the process so as to not interfere in the quasi-judicial process of the hearing.

But to help facilitate further discussions between the golf club and the airport, on Thursday Smith proposed that council chief executive Nigel Philpott enter into discussions with both parties in the role of landowner.

“When we have difficult and challenging problems, we get round the table and we come up with options and solutions that gets the best overall outcome,” Smith said.

“It’s the responsible thing for council to do.”

Not all councillors were comfortable with the approach suggested by Smith.

Councillor Aaron Stallard thought that directing the chief executive to engage would send “a really clear signal” that the council supported the plan to reconfigure the golf club to enable the runway extension, while councillor Rachel Sanson thought the proposal felt like a “quid pro quo arrangement”.

Philpott reassured councillors that he would not be “deal-making” and would instead be gauging the potential ways forward to then put to council to consider.

“It’s about fact-finding, it’s about finding if there’s a potential way forward, and bringing back some advice to [elected members] to consider, it’s certainly not about negotiating a final resolution,” he said.

Councillors also raised concerns about public access to the coastal land should it become part of a golf course, the ecology of the area, and the impacts of climate change on the peninsula.

Assurances that elected members would have oversight in reaching an eventual decision, and the fact that the decision would have to be publicly consulted on assuaged most concerns and the council approved the proposal to allow the chief executive to enter discussions.

Though the proposal had support from most councillors, several expressed frustrations with the process.

Councillor Tim Skinner agreed that it would be “remiss” of the council not to participate in discussions, but thought the airport had shown “disinterest” when it came to engaging with affected parties, like the golf club and the Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park, before submitting its application.

“It should have been a discussion prior to going to [a hearing],” he said.

“The commissioners said, quite rightly, ‘go and have that sit-down discussion which you haven’t had’.”

The golf club would be seeking a peppercorn lease from the council if it was able to use the peninsula land for a new course.

Access into the site and building height restrictions also pose additional challenges for the golf club to overcome.

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