Aucklanders to have their say on richlisters’ Westmere helipad
Tuesday, 15 October 2024
What do you think about the request? Have your say in the comments below.
Ex-All Black Ali Williams and toy tycoon Anna Mowbray want two return flights a day from their Westmere mansion, but experts say it will disturb sea birds, not to mention local residents.
The richlister couple bought their home on Rawene Avenue for $24 million in 2020.
They’ve been trying to get resource consent to a fly a helicopter from the property since 2021, but have faced scrutiny from Auckland Council in the face of public opposition to private helipads.
Mowbray and Williams were asked by the council to undertake studies of local wildlife and have an expert provide their opinion on the impacts of helicopters. This would inform a decision on whether the effects were “more than minor”, and if the public ought to have it say.
In October, duty commissioner Mark Farnsworth released his decision, saying the consent application would have to be publicly notified.
Farnsworth wrote that there was a risk that nearby coastal birds would abandon their nests: “Continuous disturbance could lead to a whole area becoming inhospitable to some species.”
“Noise can induce stress for birds attempting to roost and sleep… [It] could disrupt critical parts of their lifecycle, such as breeding.”
It’s a sentiment shared by people living in the area. In 2022, more than 3000 people signed a petition by Quiet Sky Waitematā calling for a ban on private helicopter use in residential Auckland.
One signatory commented on the petition: “The entitled few should not be able to inflict this kind of environmental damage on their neighbours.”
“They can get off their entitled bottoms and go to Mechanics Bay to catch a chopper! A quiet neighbourhood is not the right place for this type of activity,” another added.
Quiet Sky’s Elena Keith says her group sought an expert report from a psychologist on the stress helicopter noise causes residents.
“It’s not just a noise - the change in air pressure causes a primal response,” she says.
Quiet Sky also got its own advice from ecologists on seabirds in Westmere, which it submitted to the council to encourage the council to publicly notify Williams and Mowbray’s application.
“We knew there were birds there, but we didn’t know there were dotterels,” she says.
The question now, says Keith, is whether Mowbray and Williams will withdraw their application or proceed with notification and then argue their evidence in a hearing.
Williams has been contacted for comment.
Keith estimates between paying the council’s costs and for experts, proceeding with the application could cost the couple another $200,000 with no guarantee of success.
“If they don’t withdraw, we will fight it.
“We are talking about two people who don’t want to drive 10 minutes to the nearest helipad, and impacting hundreds of people.”
Williams and Mowbray join several other wealthy residents in the area who have sought helipads including property developers Simon and Paula Herbert, and Briscoes’ Rod Duke.
Herne Bay Residents’ Association co-chairperson Don Mathieson previously said it wasn't fair for a few individuals to use their noisy helicopters in place of a car, “flying around like The Jetsons”.
Meanwhile, council’s Mike Farnsworth noted in his notification decision that Mowbray and Williams would also likely need to trim their pōhutukawa trees to enable the helicopter to land. That in itself would also need consent, he said.
He also said the impact of the noise on recreational users of the area including Coxs Bay could be affected by helicopter use.
“There is the potential for the proposal to have more than minor adverse effects on character and amenity values of the locality.”
Comments are moderated during working hours and may not appear immediately.