Time To Bale Out At Paraparaumu Airport!

The Paraparaumu Airport Coalition says it now has the firm support of half of the Kapiti Coast District Council to abandon the present proposals to develop Paraparaumu Airport.

The large-scale commercial and industrial plans were put forward by Auckland developers led by Noel Robinson.

The Coalition says the plans would result in the loss of large areas of open space -- and the reduction of the ‘aviation zone’ to just 46 hectares, compared with the original 130 hectares of the airport.

The convenor of the Airport Coalition, Councillor Alan Tristram, says he has been taking soundings this week and it’s apparent the present proposals will never get the full backing of the Kapiti Coast District Council.

He says there was a move this week to hold a special meeting of the KCDC Environment and Regulatory Committee to revisit the vote taken last week (this went 5-4 against the devekopers’ proposals).

“Those proposing the extra meeting obviously thought the presence of the Mayor and one councillor, who were absent at the vote last week, would swing the balance,” he says.

But, Cr Tristram says, another councillor took the initiative yesterday and stepped in to demand that the meeting be abandoned.

“Obviously,” he says, “it was anti-democratic to try to slip the same proposals back in because more votes might be available for the developers’ plans.”

He adds: “We think KCDC staff, not democratically-elected councillors, have been driving the process.”

Councillor Tristram says the only way forward is for the developers to completely withdraw their proposals. Then, and only then, he says, can they enter into meaningful consultations with the Kapiti community to agree on new plans.

“Mr Robinson told the Council last year that he intended to get 100 per cent community support,” he says,” and withdrawing the plans will give him the chance to do this.”

Otherwise, Cr Tristram says, the situation will only get worse.

“We’ve now got well over 1,500 signatures on a petition calling on Parliament to pass the Airport Authorities Amendment Bill unaltered – and thus to save the airport from non-aviation development,” he says.

He says the other vital factor is that the claims of the original Maori and Pakeha landowners must be satisfied before any development takes place.

In addition, the Airport Coalition is holding another major public meeting on the Airport dispute at the Southwards Car Museum in Kapiti on Thursday, February 15.

MP Darren Hughes, sponsor of the Bill, and other local and national politicians, as well as Iwi representatives are expected to attend.

The Mayor of Kapiti, Alan Milne, KCDC councillors, and the KCDC acting Chief Executive have also been invited to come and answer4 the questions of local people.

ENDS

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