(But if they wait long-enough, Government will do it for them)
We’ve had another of those small victories, in a battle we shouldn’t have had to fight.
Although Council had announced that…
the current plan modification to the Hauraki Gulf Islands District Plan on helipads must be formally withdrawn
…in order to work on a new plan change; they have now said that:
staff are…Continuing with the submissions process for PM16 (submissions close 21 August 2025).
In other words, they have now agreed that they didn’t have to formally withdraw it after all. Well, we knew that.
We will now need to make a submission on proposed plan change PM16.
You will now need to make a submission, too.
Given that any rule changes arising from Mike Lee’s Notice of Motion may be prevented from proceeding by Government, the already-notified PM16 is the current best shot at getting greater protections more immediately, whilst we await better things.
Here’s the thing, the current proposed plan change is inadequate. We will be working on a submission shortly and we’ll post it here. But we can already tell you the essence of what it will say: The proposal falls short of giving effect to the NZCPS. Yet it must do that by law. To do what the law demands will require a re-write of the objectives and policies pertaining to helipads and for the activity status to be changed.
Because the law is on our side, we expect that the hearing panel will agree…if it gets to a hearing.
(Bear in mind that all council have to do is to set a hearing for next year instead of this year, and Goodbye Birdie. So we are asking that they set one as soon as possible).
If you want to know when we’ve written our submission and made it available, please subscribe using the box on our front page.
Quiet Sky Waiheke 