Northland's rescue helicopter at the base in Kensington. Photo / NZME
A Kensington resident, frustrated by noisy rescue helicopters still flying overhead says he is not surprised the controversial chopper base will remain in the Whangārei suburb for another year.
Alan Kerrisk is opposed to the base staying in his area and wants assurances it will be gone from Kensington.
“I want to know what is happening to make sure the move does actually take place,” he said.
The year-by-year lease extension ends on July 31, 2026.
Whangārei District Council (WDC) extended Northland Emergency Services Trust (NEST)’s Kensington lease for three years from August 2023.
It was granted to NEST days before its 2013 Kensington lease expired in July 2023.
Last year the helicopter went on 1106 missions, which meant more than 2000 flights in and out of the residential Whangārei suburb of Kensington.
About 20% of the flights were at night.
The extension’s first year ends at the end of this month.
Ahead of the extension, Kerrisk called on the council to create a council rescue helicopter committee for Kensington, with formal agendas and recorded minutes. This has not happened.
“The council setting the committee up would show it is working with affected residents to look at mitigation and ensuring the helicopter base’s move from Kensington is not stalling.”
WDC district development manager Tony Collins said nothing had changed in terms of NEST needing to leave Kensington in June 2026.
The council expected the operation to relocate to Whangārei airport (in Onerahi) by then, subject to successful lease negotiations.
“We anticipate that by then the lease will have been formalised, that NEST will have built its new facilities and that it will be operating from the airport site,” Collins said.
He said the council and NEST were working towards relocating the rescue helicopter base to Onerahi following a High Court decision in the council’s favour.
“We are working with NEST for a potential lease at the airport, with NEST progressing its building design,” Collins said.
The trust’s Kensington presence has been of ongoing concern for neighbours.
Many Whangārei airport neighbours are also against the base shifting to their Onerahi seaside suburb.
Both groups are worried about helicopter noise.
Collins said NEST had exercised its right to take up a second year’s lease extension. This was an administrative matter and did not need a formal council decision.
NEST chairman Paul Ahlers said the lease extension allowed an adequate but flexible timeline for NEST and the council to work through the relocation.
Ahlers said plans for a new base at Whangārei airport were nearly completed.
A lease agreement would soon be finalised for land at the airport.
The new Onerahi airport-based building would be finished before the end of 2025 and the relocation would happen before the 2026 lease expiry date.
Ahlers said High Court action by “a small group” of Onerahi airport shift opponents had held up the move.
Onerahi shift opponents group Sound spokesman Paul Doherty said the group’s High Court judicial review case had been an important step in the democratic process, despite being unsuccessful.
Ahlers said NEST continued to engage with residents who had concerns about its flight operations or base activity.
“At the time of writing, we are not aware of any current complaints from Kensington residents,” Ahlers said.
Collins said NEST had been operating from Kensington since 1988.
There had been no noise monitoring during that time.
NEST refuels its helicopters at Onerahi airport.
Local Democracy Reporting Northland asked how often the helicopters breached the Fly Neighbourly programme’s 1000 feet flying height between Kensington and Onerahi. The height is designed to mitigate helicopter noise production.
Ahlers said the Fly Neighbourly programme was voluntary.
“It is not always possible to do this, especially when weather conditions or safety may dictate different operating conditions.”
■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.