Opponents of shifting the Onerahi emergency rescue helicopter are set to legally challenge Whangārei District Council to stop the service's base shifting from Kensington to the airport.
Northland's emergency rescue helicopter base in Kensington. Photo: Northern Advocate / Tania Whyte
A heated public meeting on Wednesday decided on this action in spite of Whangārei District Council (WDC) airport noise management committee chair councillor Phil Halse clearly telling those present that would mean the council immediately withdrawing from talking with airport neighbours about the shift.
Opponents are forming a new group called SOUND - an acronym for Stop Onerahi from Undue Noise Disturbance. Around 60 people attended Wednesday's meeting and pledged more than $11,000 for the fight with more than half those present now part of SOUND, a dozen of them on the new SOUND committee.
The often vociferous one and a half hour meeting on Wednesday was in St Stephen's church hall Onerahi and via Zoom, the venue just metres from the airport boundary.
SOUND will next send WDC formal notification of its challenge, outlining what it believes has gone wrong and what it believes needs to happen. Helicopter shift opponents have already been working with lawyers specialising in public law and resource management.
Those at the public meeting made it very clear they were fully in support of the Northland Emergency Service Trust (NEST) rescue helicopter service. They did not however want its base to shift to the airport from Kensington.
NEST has been at its Kensington base since 1998, its WDC lease there expiring in May next year. Opposition to noise from this base - in the middle of a residential, school and sports area - has grown consistently as helicopter and flight numbers have increased.
WDC's Onerahi airport draft lease with NEST is not yet signed. SOUND member and helicopter shift opponent Carole Doherty said the group did not want that to happen.
In November WDC unanimously voted at an extraordinary council meeting to formally support NEST's shift to Onerahi airport.
Some attending Wednesday's meeting were angry about the nature of that decision, saying the community had not been told about the extraordinary meeting ahead of it happening and the decision being made there.
The makeup of the WDC airport noise management committee formally set up at a council meeting two weeks ago, was perhaps the biggest point of contention.
Whether it was a reincarnation of the previously existing noise committee or a completely new entity were among points of discussion.
Doherty said the airport noise management committee set up by the council in late March should be operating under the terms of reference of its predecessors.
Halse said the committee was not a continuation of its predecessor but a completely new entity.
Doherty wanted the terms of reference in place from when the committee was previously set up - after direction from Hearing Commissioners after Whangārei District Plan variation appeals from the Anglican Diocese of Auckland which St Stephen's church is part of and two other parties.
She said the commissioners had ruled that a consultative approach with the community be undertaken and a noise management plan, including a noise allocation component be established.
That was the genesis of the initial noise management committee - which had eight members including an independent chair, three community members (including Doherty), one WDC councillor and three airport sector representatives.
Onerahi airport - surrounded by homes on all sides. Photo: Northern Advocate / Tania Whyte
Halse said the new WDC committee set up in late March and operated under the legislation of today meaning it could not be changed.
The new committee has nine members - a WDC councillor as chair and two other WDC councillors (who include the Mayor); three airport sector representatives, which include from NEST and three community members.
Onerahi helicopter shift opponent Warren Thomas said the previous committee had been fair and balanced. The committee set up by WDC in late March was "very unbalanced".
Doherty said the new committee was simply paying lip service to talking with local residents.
Other meeting concerns centred around noise allocation budgeting for the emergency rescue helicopters at Onerahi airport. This allocation controlled the total amount of noise that could be produced.
Doherty said only about 15 percent of the NEST flights were emergency rescues for trips, like to the recent Far North Enchanter boat passengers rescue or serious car crashes. The rest were for trips including hospital transfers.
She said noise allocation allowances currently took into account only the 15 percent of emergency rescue flights. The group wanted noise produced from the other 85 percent of NEST's work included in allocation budgeting.
Halse, WDC councillor and Northland District Health Board member Vince Cocurullo and former NEST chair John Bain - who were all at the Wednesday meeting - pushed for opponents to work with resolving issues, via the airport noise committee, rather than moving to a legal fight.
Longtime Onerahi airport manager Mike Chubb said the community could work towards negotiating emergency helicopter operating controls in line with airport operating hours.
Cocurullo offered the opportunity for WDC's new airport noise management committee to potentially be increased by the addition of more locals from the community.
Doherty said it was too late.
Bain said opponents were better to work with the committee towards things like making sure that the only helicopter flights that took off during the night were those doing emergency rescues and that there was no helicopter engine testing after a certain time of day.
NEST shift opponents made a final effort to avoid going down the legal challenge path by initiating a meeting with Mayor Sheryl Mai and Okara ward councillors on 5 April. There, members presented four key points they wanted council action on. The council asked for about a week to respond.
Thomas said that response had come through just ahead of the meeting. Most action points had not been adequately addressed.
The meeting's legal challenge decision had become the next step.
Local Democracy Reporting is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air