Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray have gained approval for a helipad at their Westmere property.
Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray have gained approval for a helipad at their Westmere property.
Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray’s controversial application for a helipad at their $24 million Westmere property has been approved.
The rich-listers have not commented yet, but the decision has been greeted with disbelief from opponents, including Quiet Sky Waitematā, a group set up to oppose private helicopters in residential Auckland.
Julie Stout, who chairs Urban Auckland, called the decision deeply disturbing and potentially opening the door for many other helicopters in residential areas.
The panel of three independent hearing commissioners has released its decision allowing for no more than two flights per day and 10 flights per month from the couple’s property overlooking the picturesque Waitemata Harbour.
Following six days of public hearings last month, the commissioners concluded that operating a helicopter in residential zones is a permitted activity in the Auckland Unitary Plan, and inherently associated with residential land use.
“We find that the noise effects that would be generated by helicopter take-offs and landings at [the address] would not be unreasonable and would not diminish the amenity values of this residential zone to any material degree.
“Based on our consideration of the relevant acoustic evidence and materials, and the marginal degree of non-compliance with the applicable AUP standard, we have decided to exercise our discretion and approve the application, subject to conditions,” the just-released decision said.
Some neighbours said the proposal would destroy the amenity of Westmere. Photo / Chris Tarpey
Quiet Sky Waitematā issued a statement on social media soon after the announcement, saying it was not the decision they had hoped for.
“It sets a worrying precedent for future applications around Auckland.
“We’re still digesting the decision that was released this morning but safe to say given the huge number of submissions against this application it won’t be a popular one.”
Waitematā Local Board member Alex Bonham said it was an extraordinary decision and the precedent set was alarming.
“It was not the recommendation of the council (who recommended a decline). The Independent Hearing Panel has gone out on a limb and has interpreted the Auckland Unitary Plan very strangely.”
At the public hearings, she said the board wanted helicopter movements in urban residential areas to be prohibited in the Unitary Plan.
“Residents of Herne Bay who already endure helicopter noise have been campaigning hard on this issue for many years because of the stress and distress experienced by those living in the proximity of already consented helipads,” Bonham said.
Anna Mowbray & Ali Williams' property on a headland in Westmere. Photo / Alex Burton
In their decision, the commissioners dismissed concerns about helicopter noise, including concerns about privately operated helicopters coming and going in nearby Herne Bay.
They said there was nothing untoward, unacceptable, or significantly out of character with helicopter noise in an urban residential environment per se.
What was more important, they said, was the extent and volume of that noise, and they accepted the common view of three expert acoustics consultants that the noise limits were within a New Zealand standard that set the upper limit of acceptability.
The commissioners were satisfied that the application was within the limitations on flight path, hours, and flight numbers.
They ruled that the site of the helipad was located on a headland on the coast edge of a built-up urban area, making it possible to approach and depart without crossing over other private residential land.
The site also provided a greater buffer distance between its proposed landing and take-off point and neighbouring properties.
”These two characteristics provide the site with a greater ability than most other urban residential sites to be able to host helicopter take-offs and landings in compliance with the permitted noise standard for that activity,” said the commissioners.
Lawyer claimed opponents ‘not representative' of community views,
The rich-listers’ lawyer, Chris Simmons, told last month’s hearing the application was for no more than two take-off and landing flights a day, up to 10 flights per month, occurring within a two-hour window on either side of low tide when birds were out feeding.
There would be no physical works as helicopters would land on the lawn.
It was Simmons’ view that the concerns of the 1300 submitters opposed to the helipad were overstated or misunderstood, and opposing groups were not representative of the entire community.
Williams and Mowbray stayed away from the four-day hearing, but the sportsman’s mother, Helen Williams, presented a submission.
“I am very proud to be the mother and mother-in-law of the applicants. I am proud because they want to spend their lives being constructive.”
They cared deeply about being part of the community and had modified their plans to respond to concerns, she said.
One supporter of the application, Pt Chevalier resident Sally Chudzynski, told the hearing the issue is about enabling efficient, responsible transport for New Zealanders - Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams - who “contribute significantly to our country’s business, culture, and global reputation”.
“Let’s stop pretending this opposition is about saving birds or peace and quiet. It’s about fear of change and tall poppy thinking,” she said.
Elena Keith at the hearing for the proposed helipad.
Quiet Sky Waitematā is a fledgling group, with 17 members and 200 donors who donated well over $100,000 to take on the applicants.
Secretary Elena Keith and Gideon Keith, who submitted on their own, said they had lived on the street for the tranquillity and natural beauty, raising a family using the foreshore as an extension of their backyard.
“There is no place for a helicopter here… it’s a gross inequity,” Elena Keith said.
The long-time resident said Williams and Mowbray want the helipad at their mansion to avoid a 15-minute drive to a public heliport at Albany.
Stout, whose group comprises architects and other professionals dedicated to a better built and natural environment, was deeply disappointed that the commissioners did not take a cautionary approach to unresolved issues in the Unitary Plan related to helicopters.
“To make this decision without waiting for that process to happen, I find it deeply cynical.
“Sydney and Melbourne don’t have helicopters(in residential areas). Well hang on, doesn’t that make you stop and think? Are we doing the right thing?” she said.
Council planning and resource consent general manager John Duguid said the council’s reporting planner recommended the application be declined.
“The decision contains some interpretations of the Unitary Plan that differ from the reporting planner. We are reviewing the implications of the independent hearings panel’s interpretation,” he said.
The independent hearings panel comprised the chairman Kitt Littlejohn, David Hill, and Dr Hilke Giles.
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