Court lifts pending ban on helicopters in Abel Tasman National Park

The Environment Court's decision not to impose an enforcement order in relation to an airstrip at Awaroa, within the Abel Tasman National Park, means helicopters can continue operating there. Photo / Helicopters Nelson

Property owners fighting to keep air access open to an enclave within the Abel Tasman National Park are happy the legal spat is now over but are still smarting at the cost and what they say is a huge waste of time it’s taken to keep the status quo.

“Those of us who carried the burden of this are relieved and are now trying to get past the resentment at the waste,” says a spokesman for the group of property owners that owns the airstrip, Stephen Franks.

The Environment Court has declined to issue an enforcement order over the privately owned airstrip at Awaroa, which means helicopters have been given the green light to continue using it when it looked like they’d be banned.

Awaroa sits near the northern head of the Abel Tasman National Park and includes an enclave of private properties, including Awaroa Lodge, which uses air services to get guests in and out.

A group of property owners fighting to keep air access open at Awaroa within the Abel Tasman National Park are relieved the legal spat is now over. Photo / Nelson Tasman NZ

Franks, a Wellington lawyer who owns one of the nine or 10 properties at Awaroa with registered rights of way that allows aircraft to use the airstrip, said the entire exercise - triggered by the Tasman District Council investigating a noise complaint, was inexplicable and “just absurd”.

“We were baffled by what the council wanted to achieve – we still don’t really know,” Franks told NZME.

He says the blow had been softened by the council agreeing to contribute $170,000 to the costs bill – about 70 per cent of the legal costs paid from the pockets of multiple respondents.

Head of Helicopters Nelson Pete Darling, who has been instrumental in getting the breakthrough that helped the court make its final decision, says he alone spent tens of thousands of dollars and countless hours simply to “do a big circle”.

He says everyone was now back to the status quo - flying in and out of Awaroa.

“It’s taken an unbelievable amount of time and money, for no gain.

“We’ve simply ended up where we should have been from the get-go.”

It all began with a complaint to the Tasman District Council in 2018, not about helicopters but a small, noisy aeroplane using a new airstrip that had been established on another property adjoining the existing airstrip.

In the process of investigating the new airstrip, the council turned its focus to the original airstrip, which has been managed by Awaroa Aerodrome Limited (AAL) on behalf of the owners since late 2016.

It was commonly assumed that they were covered by existing use rights, dating back to the 1960s, but after its investigation, the council determined that these rights did not apply to the airstrip and the owners needed resource consent.

There was large-scale objection, which then prompted the council to apply to the Environment Court for enforcement orders, seeking to end the use of the airstrip by light aircraft and helicopters.

This was despite the key complaint being about noise generated by planes, particularly given their flight path over Awaroa.

The primary issue for the court was the extent of the historic use of the airstrip and the existing rights of current users based on this.

In a move that baffled many, the court’s interim decision in late 2021 allowed planes to continue operating, but not helicopters, because of what the court said was a lack of evidence over the extent to which chopper noise might be contributing to the problem.

It was apparent that since the late 1990s or early 2000s, there had been a “significant change in use of the airstrip”, namely an increase in the volume of helicopter traffic.

Awaroa, at the northern end of the Abel Tasman National Park. Photo / Herald Graphic.

The move would have ended helicopters operating in and out of Awaroa from April 2022, but Darling, who was also aware of the precedent the decision might set for others around the country, stalled the ban when he objected to having been largely left out of the process, through late notification.

The court allowed him a chance to submit more evidence to prove the existing use rights by helicopters.

Based on extra evidence provided, the court was satisfied that helicopters did have existing use rights and did not pose an environmental problem to the degree initially thought.

“Having regard to all of those matters, we decline to exercise our discretion to make an enforcement order in respect of helicopter use of the airstrip,” Judge Brian Dwyer said in his decision released just before Christmas.

Affected property owner Zac Athfield said it had been a “difficult road” but there was a silver lining in that due to the “careful decision”, a pathway had been created that would help local landowners and the council find ways to support each other.

Franks said the decision might not prevent the council from requiring a resource consent in future, but he was now more confident the council had taken a more objective stance, backed by much stronger evidence that helicopters had existing use rights.

The council told NZME it believed it now have a platform to work from in addressing the challenges and issues associated with the growing popularity of Awaroa.

TDC senior environmental manager Kim Drummond said all parties recognised the value in having access to this “beautiful and remote part of our country” managed within sustainable limits.

He said the court had provided some helpful guidance around how the airstrip could function to service the landowners and the visitors to the area.

Drummond also said that Awaroa, which was within a national park, carried the unique status of having its foreshore managed as a scenic reserve, under the combined jurisdiction of the Department of Conservation and Tasman District Council.

This provided an opportunity to bring that partnership into the conversation, to ensure all the major means of travel to and from Awaroa were considered as part of an integrated approach, for the benefit of all.

“Council will also consider whether any lessons from these proceedings can be incorporated into the District Plan,” Drummond said.