Green Party Intervenes In Airport Dispute

The Paraparaumu Airport Coalition has welcomed the call by Green MP Sue Kedgley for a complete rethink on the airport development plans.

Ms Kedgley, Green spokesperson on Civil Aviation, has slated the Kapiti Coast District Council for failing to consult on the issues surrounding Paraparaumu Airport.

She says this is a breach of the Council’s obligations under the Local Government Act.

Cr Alan Tristram, convenor of the Airport Coalition, says this means the Auckland developers’ plans, already turned down once by the KCDC, should now be completely ‘binned.’

‘Not only, this,” he says, ‘All plans should be put on hold while MP Darren Hughes’s Airport Authorities Amendment Bill goes through Parliament.’

Cr Tristram ‘ Meanwhile, the KCDC can formally enter into a proper consultation process with Kapiti people -- something it has failed to do in the past.’

The Airport Coalition is also calling on the Auckland property developers’ leader, Noel Robinson, to ‘show willing’ by accepting genuine public consultation under independent council control.

‘Full-page ads in the local paper written by spin doctors aren’t proper consultation -- they are a proper con,’ Cr Tristram says.

The Green Party’s dramatic intervention came at a major public meeting on the Paraparaumu Airport issue held last night at Southwards Museum on the Kapiti Coast.

An audience of 350 people passed several motions criticising plans for large scale retail and commercial development at the airport and the obliteration of the sealed East/West alternate runway.

The meeting unanimously called on the KCDC to immediately withdraw the development plans from all council agendas.

It also called on the Council and developers ‘to immediately commence formal negotiations for the first time with the Kapiti community on all issues relating to the Airport.’

The Airport meeting is the second major public meeting organised by the Airport Coalition.

Both the Mayor of Kapiti, Alan Milne, and the developers’ leader Noel Robinson, turned down invitations to attend and put their side of the case.

During the meeting, Otaki MP Darren Hughes outlined progress on his private members Bill to amend the Airport Authorities Act.

He said the Bill, now with the Transport Select Committee, will assist the original Maori and Pakeha landowners to advance their claims on some of the airport land.

Several speakers from the audience said they were worried about safety implications if the developers abolished the sealed East/West runway and substituted a smaller grass strip to the south.

The former Otaki MP, Judy Keall, who chaired the meeting, said she was also extremely worried about this. There was a danger to near-by residents if the developers’ second runway put a flight path so close to their homes, she said.

ENDS

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