Kitt Littlejohn got into a row with the Tree Council's Dr Mels Barton at the Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray (inset) helipad hearing. Photo / Michael Craig
Kitt Littlejohn got into a row with the Tree Council's Dr Mels Barton at the Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray (inset) helipad hearing. Photo / Michael Craig
Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray’s helipad hearing saw tensions when Dr Mels Barton was threatened with removal.
Barton argued helicopters would damage trees, while panel chairman Kitt Littlejohn deemed her initial submission irrelevant.
Auckland Council opposes the helipad, citing adverse effects on ecology, trees, and local amenity.
A row erupted at the Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray helipad hearing today when the panel boss overseeing their resource consent threatened to “get rid” of the Tree Council’s leader.
Dr Mels Barton was submitting to the panel, starting with photos of coastal trees on the couple’s headland property atWestmere before and after they purchased it.
She alleged the photos showed illegal removal, pruning and thinning of protected trees.
Panel chairman Kitt Littlejohn stopped Barton, saying her submission was not relevant to the resource consent application.
“You are able to give a submission that is relevant. If you are going to argue with me, I will just get rid of you.
The Tree Council's Dr Mels Barton got cut down at the helipad hearing. Photo / Sylvie Whinray
“I’m quite happy to hear you talk about what you see to be the effects of a proposed helicopter landing on the site and the effect it might have on the trees on the site,” Littlejohn said.
“But this journey through the past 18 months and what the applicants may or may not have done is just not going to help, it is not relevant to us.
Littlejohn said there was no evidence of any wrongdoing.
“Even if it was, it is not relevant to the resource consent application. You don’t refuse resource consent applications because people have done something historically."
Barton replied that the couple had blamed the condition of the trees on a couple of storms, which was relevant.
Littlejohn disagreed and asked Barton to speak about what might be the effect on the trees that are there today from helicopters: “Can you do that?”
Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray's home with coastal trees around the property. Photo / Alex Burton
Barton replied that “helicopters will have a significant impact on tree health and stability”.
Rotor downwash would lead to winds of up to severe gale force through the crowns of trees, lifting and twisting branches, likely damaging canopies and shortening the trees’ lives. New plantings would not survive, she said.
Barton said the trees were too close to the prescribed safety areas and believed the couple would inevitably seek resource consent for pruning, height reduction, and removal of trees on safety grounds.
Speaking to the Herald after the hearing, Barton said the Tree Council made its point about trees in poor health being battered by severe gale-force helicopter winds.
She believed Littlejohn “shouldn’t be prejudgmental” towards submitters.
“I have never been threatened with being thrown out before. That was an unnecessary and over-the-top reaction,” said Barton, who has been making submissions for 25 years.
Today’s hearing was meant to wrap up with Williams and Mowbray’s lawyer given a right of reply to four days of submissions, but more evidence has been called and needs to be considered before this can occur.
Several more submissions for and against the helipad were heard today, and various experts for the Auckland Council who have sat through the hearings gave evidence.
Last month, the council came out against the proposal.
Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray at their property in Westmere.
In a 356-page report, council planner Adonica Giborees said the helipad would adversely affect ecological values, trees, character and amenity, and recreational activities.
A landscape expert for the council, Peter Kensington, said it was clear the residential and coastal environment was valued by locals.
“The arrival and departure of helicopters on the site, as proposed, will erode rather than enhance the existing amenity values of this coastal residential environment,” said Kensington.
He said additional limits on the proposed number and time of helicopter flights may reduce amenity issues.
