Our Submission on Proposed Plan Change PM16
Quiet Sky Waiheke have made a submission on proposed plan change PM16 (Helipads). The text of our submission is below. We have also pre-filled a form with a short version of this argument, which you can use to make a submission in less than five minutes, if you wish. To make a quick submission: Alternatively, you can complete the online…
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Motion Without Notice
Councillors Lee and Leoni have written a letter to the Chief Executive of Auckland Council complaining that they consider the process which replaced their notice of motion, with a substitute motion, as being in breach standing orders and democratic process, and thus illegitimate; indeed a procedural ambush. They are demanding that the original Notice of Motion be recommitted to the…
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Council is Not Cancelling PM16 After All
(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announced that… the current plan modification to the Hauraki Gulf Islands District Plan on helipads must be formally withdrawn …in order to work on a new plan change; they have…
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We’ve Won The Battle – Now We Need to Win The Peace
Mike Lee’s Notice of Motion for the Hauraki Gulf Islands was passed by the Policy and Planning Committee. Quiet Sky Waiheke gave a powerful presentation on it being D-Day: Decision day for the committee. There were supportive presentations also from Quiet Sky Waitemata, the Herne Bay Residents Association, and the Aotea/Great Barrier and Waiheke Local Boards. Then Mike Lee presented…
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Beware Careful Curation by Plans and Places
As elected councillors come to vote on Mike Lee’s Notice of Motion at the Policy and Planning Committee Meeting, they will be receiving advice from the Plans and Places team. We ask that the elected councillors read the following information, and use it as a lens when considering the planning and policy advice that they receive. Councillors, this is written…
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NoM NoM
Mike Lee has submitted a tasty notice of motion, asking to prohibit new helipad consents in urban areas. This is great and we fully support it. The last vote (on a previous, very similar notice of motion a year ago) was 10 – 8 against, so it would only take a couple of councillors to change their votes for it…
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A Judicial Review of the Mowbray-Williams Decision?
A judgment by independent commissioners has granted a helipad for Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray in the suburb of Westmere. At Quiet Sky Waiheke, we think this decision is great! Not because it’s good. It’s terrible: Thousands of people in the surrounding suburbs will be affected by noise levels of up to 93dB, that will double the amount of total…
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Proposed Plan Change Submission Deadline Now Extended to 21 August
Auckland Council has proposed a plan change to the Hauraki Gulf Islands District Plan. Residents should have received a letter announcing the proposal and inviting submissions. Here are the documents: https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/plans-projects-policies-reports-bylaws/our-plans-strategies/hgi-district-plan/Pages/hgi-district-plan-modifications.aspx Quiet Sky Waiheke has long campaigned for a plan change, to give effect to the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS). Unfortunately, this proposal doesn’t do that because council…
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This Thursday: Public Meeting (in Cox’s Bay) to Ban Private Helipads
It has become apparent that nothing can stop the proliferation of helipads across Auckland and the Hauraki Gulf Islands, whether council wants to restrict them (Auckland) or does not (the Hauraki Gulf Islands). If the Mowbray-Williams helipad can be granted consent, then the planning and consenting system is broken and the only remaining option is a plan change to both…
Keep readingWaiheke Local Board Plan Submissions Close 4pm Today
If you want to support and encourage the Waiheke Local Board to advocate strongly for more or better helicopter controls, please take a couple of minutes to complete the online feedback form for the Draft Waiheke Local Board Plan before 4pm today. There are several sections in the form. You can choose the one which seems most appropriate to enter…
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New rules now apply
Council updated the Hauraki Gulf Islands District Plan yesterday, to give effect to National Planning Standard 15 (NPS15). Now helicopter noise will be averaged over one day instead of over three days. Council has posted the notice in the usual place. In the implementation report the planners explained the reason for the change: The early implementation of NPS15 in the…
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A new Civil Aviation Act
On 5 April, the Civil Aviation Act 2023 became law. After a lot of work by Quiet Sky Waiheke, the Waiheke Local Board, and Auckland Central MP Chlöe Swarbrick, along with contributions from the Great Barrier Local Board, previous ward councillor Pippa Coom, and MP Helen White, a one-word change was achieved! The word including was added. Because of this…
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Are council delaying to let this consent through?
***This post was updated on 24/4/23 – see end of post*** It’s now two weeks since council’s Planning, Environment and Parks Committee voted to give effect to National Planning Standard 15, which will mean that helipad applications will have tougher noise limits to achieve restricted discretionary (RD) status. Under the RD rules, council does not allow itself to consider any…
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Halfway there
The Waiheke community can celebrate today, after the Planning, Environment and Parks Committee voted to stop averaging helicopter noise over three days and instead to average it over one day. We’ve been advocating for council to apply this change (which was mandated by National Planning Standard 15, 2019) since last May, and they have finally agreed to do it. It…
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The NZCPS is for the birds
A landowner in Church Bay, Waiheke Island, got some welcome news on Friday afternoon, when their helipad consent application was granted. They may have celebrated. They were probably not surprised; thirteen of their immediate and nearby neighbours already have one. The authors of the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement might have been surprised, however. The flightpath goes very low (and…
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Three-part Newsroom series
Newsroom recently published a three-part series penned by Nikki Mandow. We suggest you click through and read them all, as they really tell a story, however we have extracted some key elements (and added a couple of comments about safety to article two and a comment about council action to article three): Article One: “Helipad fight: 2023 will be crucial,…
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Cordis Hotel demonstrates sustainability credentials
We are delighted to announce that the Cordis Hotel in downtown Auckland has responded in an exemplary manner to an enquiry from a Waiheke resident about their promotion of a package which included helicopter flights to Waiheke. The resident noted that they had been staying at the hotel and enjoying the service and convenient location, but commented that the promotion…
Keep readingMaybe not a plan change… Really Megan?
Helipad consenting was raised by Cr Mike Lee at today’s Planning, Environment and Parks Committee. A response was provided by Auckland Council Chief of Strategy Megan Tyler (who also wrote this opinion piece in July). Video of the item can be found here (starting at 6:05). Megan promised to send out a memo to update the Local Boards and stated…
Keep readingCivil Aviation Bill (2nd Reading)
The Civil Aviation Bill is having its second reading in Parliament at the moment. There have been ten speakers so far, with videos of their speeches here. Much of what was discussed is not of direct relevance to the Quiet Sky Waiheke campaign, however, there have been some speeches of direct relevance, which are described below: Chlöe Swarbrick of the…
Keep readingCelebrating withdrawal of helipad application
For our friends at Quiet Sky Waitematā, who are celebrating the withdrawal of the Westmere (Cremorne Street) helipad application, we recommend something from Obsidian winery, whose new owners chose to put their neighbours and the community first when they withdrew a helipad application earlier this year.
Keep readingEasier submission in support of SOPs
In our previous post we asked you to please write a brief email to the Minister responsible for aviation, Kieran McAnulty (with copies to Chlöe Swarbrick and Helen White) in support of Chlöe Swarbrick’s proposed amendment to the Civil Aviation Bill. If you received one of the previous posts by email, please note that one of the links had a typo,…
Keep readingQuiet Sky Waiheke needs your help!
Over the last 18 months we have followed a number of strategies at a local and national level, one of which was making a submission on the new Civil Aviation Bill which is currently going through parliament. Partly as a result of our efforts, the following clause has been inserted into the Bill: Clause 58. Rules for noise abatement purposes The Minister may make…
Keep readingPetition by Quiet Sky Waitematā
Our friends at Quiet Sky Waitematā have an active Facebook page which catalogues their campaign against private helicopter use in residential Auckland. They also have an active petition which calls for Auckland Council to heavily regulate helicopter activity in Waitematā. If you decide to add your name to the petition, please note that any money you donate to Change.org will…
Keep readingIncluding Helicopters in the TERP
The Transport Emissions Reduction Pathway (TERP) has been adopted by Auckland Council and it’s a good plan. It’s also relevant to Quiet Sky Waiheke. (Transport Emissions Reduction Plan Final for Adoption) Aviation is a highly carbon intensive mode of transport, and cities around the world have been formulating strategies to reduce the emissions generated by aviation, while noting that most…
Keep readingHerne Bay Application Publicly-notified
We have received a request from Quiet Sky Waitemata to publicise that submissions may be made on the following publicly-notified helicopter application. Paula and Simon Herbert of 15 Cremorne St, Herne Bay have applied to double the number of daily flights allowed under their consent. Anyone in New Zealand can make a submission on their application. Time unfortunately is short…
Keep readingProgress!
We are pleased to announce that here has been steady progress towards regulating helicopters over Waiheke Island over the last few months – the fruit of a sustained campaign by Quiet Sky Waiheke, solid work by the Waiheke Local Board, Councillor Pippa Coom, and MP Chlöe Swarbrick, and significant media coverage, both locally and nationally. Our website is a trove…
Keep readingFinally Getting Serious!
On 3 May, the Planning Committee again discussed helicopters: They passed the following resolutions: Quiet Sky Waiheke noted a distinct change in the Council dialogue compared to previous meetings. There were significant contributions to the meeting from Local Councillor Pippa Coom, Committee Chair Chris Darby, and Mayor Phil Goff. We very much welcome that the issue is now being taken…
Keep readingWhen will we see some action?
Helicopter consent issues were supposed to have been addressed by Auckland Council in 2019, back when only twenty helipads had been consented on Waiheke. Here’s how it was reported in the NZ Herald. “[Planning Committee Chairman Chris] Darby said a practice note/interpretation guidance to consent planners was now being developed and will be in place “very quickly”. He believed the…
Keep readingA media frenzy & updates on 48 Korora Road
It’s been a very busy few weeks for Quiet Sky Waiheke which began with a submission to the parliamentary select committee on the Civil Aviation Bill. See the Latest Updates on our website if you missed it. Various media outlets picked up on our submission, which resulted in a Newshub interview on the 5th March featuring Quiet Sky spokesperson Kim…
Keep reading“Our airspace is not uncontrolled – it’s out of control”
Cath Handley, Local Board Chair, Waiheke Island. Kim Whitaker of Quiet Sky Waiheke joined Local Board Chair Cath Handley & Local Board member Robin Tucker at the Transport & Infrastructure Committee last Friday 11th February to put across their views on the proposed Civil Aviation Bill. In fifteen minutes the Waiheke contingent outlined the key issues which included: Quiet Sky’s…
Keep readingWoohoo!
In what really is very exciting news for Waiheke residents, the new owners of Obsidian Vineyard have withdrawn the existing application for a helipad at Te Makiri Road. May this be the first of many such successes 🙂 We encourage you to toast the new owners’ insightful decision by visiting their wine cellar at Te Makiri Road. May we recommend…
Keep readingCouncil responds … after 5 months
Niwa has just confirmed that 2021 was New Zealand’s hottest year on record, Mayor Goff has just admitted that Council “… are not doing enough” to reduce emissions, and the people of Waiheke Island, and the Waitemata Local Board are openly dismayed about the proliferation of helicopter transport within the region. So what then was Council’s response to Waiheke Local…
Keep readingBig news on past and current helipad applications:
Are they non-complying and improperly-consented? Firstly, an update: Your many protests and objections have been effective in persuading Auckland planning to send Obsidian’s application back for more information. Quiet Sky Waiheke have strongly challenged the way that Auckland has awarded helipad applications in the past, pointing out three different provisions in the District Plan that should require applications to be…
Keep readingHow safe is the helicopter sector?
As a layperson, it is difficult to assess this, however it is concerning that so many flights are not compliant with the aviation rules and that the CAA was not involved in consenting the 48 helipads already existing on Waiheke. The CAA has made its own assessment of the helicopter sector and thinks that it presents an unacceptable risk to…
Keep readingGodwits!
Welcome back Bar-Tailed Godwits to Blackpool Beach! This year, we’re being quiet for you. Ever wonder whether a profusion of helicopters might be a problem for birds? Have you seen and heard more birds since the lockdown? You wouldn’t be alone. When so many people are expending so much effort on planting trees, trapping exotic predators, and saving endangered species,…
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