Editorial: Dual role still on cards for Whenuapai

It is unfortunate that, having spent $517,000 on preparations, the Waitakere City Council has decided not to change the district plan rules for the Whenuapai Air Base. Thus ends, for the time being at least, any prospect of a commercial airport on the site. The decision has, of course, been welcomed by a residents' group whose sole concern was that flight approaches would create a noise nuisance and devalue real estate. This view paid no heed to what makes most sense in the long term, both for residents of the north and western suburbs and for the Auckland region.

Waitakere City had adopted that perspective in planning to amend its district plan to allow Whenuapai to be put to commercial use. "It was to ensure that should the Defence Force one day move away or try to sell off parts of the area, there were some controls on what happens with that land," said Mayor Bob Harvey.

The short-term uncertainty over the base was eliminated this year when the Government reversed its predecessor's unwise move to consolidate all Air Force operations at Ohakea. A total of $60 million will be spent reviving Whenuapai, including rebuilding its 70-year-old runway.

The Government said it had also decided the base would not be used for commercial operations.

Mr Harvey has acknowledged that the retention of the Air Force at Whenuapai took the pressure off the council, effectively paving the way for the district plan to be left as it is. Much of Waitakere City's concern had been prompted by the previous Government's uncertainty over whether it wanted the base to become a housing estate, an industrial area, or Auckland's second commercial airport. The council sees it as a vital piece of infrastructure, with great potential to create economic activity and jobs. Whenuapai's rebuilding, and its continued use as a base, even if on a smaller scale than previously, achieves much of that. Nonetheless, it is still disappointing that the council has run up the white flag.

Its decision ignores a bigger picture that involves the brisk growth of Auckland's north and west. Even now, it can take two hours during peak-hour traffic to travel from the North Shore to Auckland International Airport. There is little to suggest this is about to improve dramatically. Therein lies Whenuapai's considerable appeal as a joint civil-military airport. It could usefully handle domestic routes, especially the likes of business flights to Wellington, as well, perhaps, as relatively short-haul budget flights to international destinations.

As well as serving Auckland's north and west suburbs, an airport at Whenuapai would introduce welcome competition and consequent benefits to all travellers. The options for getting to and from Mangere might, for example, suddenly improve. Auckland International Airport gave $19,000 to the residents' group opposing the commercial use of Whenuapai. That has paid off, thanks, in part, to a campaign at the last local body election that owed more to imagination than the proposal put forward by Waitakere City and Infratil. Even voting figures in North Shore City, where anti-airport candidate Andrew Williams won the mayoralty, provided no clear evidence of that proposal's rejection.

It is impossible to forecast Auckland's long-term airport needs. That is why Whenuapai cannot be ruled out as a future airport, probably functioning, as in many parts of the world, in conjunction with military operations. That is also why a zoning change to allow the airfield to be put to commercial use should have been pursued. The residents' group may have won this round. But, in the long term, the realities of Auckland's growth remain likely to trump its narrow-based objections.