Mangere airport will meet area's future requirements

By ROGER BLACKBURN*

George Gair, the former North Shore City Mayor, was not ahead of his time when he "sought to build support for the idea of protecting opportunities for civil aviation development ... at Whenuapai".

He was out of touch, as North Shore City voters told him at that time. And, as his Dialogue article showed, he is still out of touch.

It is unworthy of the former journalist and public relations man to snidely put down councillors of that earlier time who, he claimed, were concerned more about their votes than their city's real needs.

Those councillors who opposed a commercial airport at Whenuapai were responding to the deep-felt concerns of thousands of residents from Greenhithe, Paremoremo, central Albany and right through to the East Coast Bays who are affected by noise from aircraft approaching or leaving Whenuapai.

Perhaps George I (in North Shore mayoral terms) should have climbed down from his ivory tower at the eastern end of the city and talked to people affected. He even admitted at the time that he did not believe any Shoreites were on the flight path to Whenuapai.

George I was warned but took no notice. George II (the present mayor, George Wood) should listen.

The Auckland Regional Growth Strategy, signed up to by George II, envisages many thousands of new houses being built in the already burgeoning suburbs of Greenhithe and central Albany that are under the flight path to Whenuapai.

Build all that under the threat of day and night commercial aircraft activity? That would not be responsible stewardship of residents' interests.

As for access to Auckland International Airport, the Auckland Regional Land Transport Strategy, also signed up to by George II, sees a handy corridor from the North Shore all the way to Mangere via the extensions to State Highways 18 and 20 and part of the Northwestern Motorway. There will be ample room for transport, public and private, and goods services.

George Gair's London experiences of sleeping undisturbed on the eastern flight path to Heathrow Airport demand further scrutiny. Were the slumbers referred to in the diplomatic mission, snug behind double glazing and 400mm brick walls? And isn't that mission in distance from Heathrow more akin to Rakino from Whenuapai?

Our Auckland lifestyle does not benefit much from double glazing, if that is how he suggests the citizenry should be appeased. Most homes in this area include ranchsliders, french windows or bi-fold doors opening out to decks, swimming pools, patios and barbecue areas used for many months of the year and throughout much of the day and evening.

We actually enjoy indoor-outdoor living here in Auckland.

Perhaps Mr Gair has spent too much time in Wellington.

On top of that, it might have escaped his notice that Auckland International Airport has consents to build a second runway at Mangere, north of the first.

A city of Auckland's modest size with two airports, when a second runway is to be built at Mangere in a few short years? Come off it.

It is illogical to try to meet the demands of Auckland's growth by ignoring the opportunity to create quality mixed space - residential, industrial and reserve - well within Greater Auckland's boundaries, at Whenuapai.

Instead, Mr Gair wants to anticipate a need that is already being met at Mangere and, in the process, push yet more housing further from central Auckland and further from adequate public transport.

I am sure Auckland International Airport would welcome the sharing of space with the military, if it came to that. There is plenty of expansion space. And it is not too far from the new SAS quarters at Papakura.

The Waitakere Mayor, Bob Harvey, can get his economic expansion to replace the contribution of the Air Force at Whenuapai through a combination of housing, industrial and reserve space. That meets the needs of the growth strategy and would be well served by the new motorways and public transport systems.

And, moreover, he would be looking after the well-being of thousands of his own ratepayers and their families, not to mention those of North Shore City.

How would Mr Harvey like jetskiers racing within the breakers at his (deservedly) precious Karekare Beach? That is equivalent to the noise of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters for those of us on the ground for miles around Whenuapai.

To get back to the comments of Mr Gair, those who have lived close to Rongotai Airport in Wellington might take issue with his implication that those living in houses near that airport do not have a problem with it.

On another tack, what about retaining a street circuit for occasional motor racing around the new developments on the former air base at Whenuapai? Now that would be talking.

* Greenhithe resident Roger Blackburn, a former journalist, works in public relations.