Mayor has big plans for Hobsonville base

By PHILIP ENGLISH

Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey welcomed news of the sale of the air base at Hobsonville yesterday but some of his constituents were not so happy.

Mr Harvey said Waitakere's vision was for major housing and business development to replace the Air Force at Hobsonville.

"What we build tomorrow must still be serving the city 50 or 100 years from now. To achieve that it must be a model eco business development balanced between the needs of business, the needs of people and the needs of the environment."

The waterfront area at Hobsonville could become a huge base for marine industries. Mr Harvey has established a taskforce to develop a vision for Hobsonville and superyacht construction could be part of it.

Already Deputy Prime Minister Jim Anderton is putting his Ministry of Economic Development behind a bid by Canadian-based Sovereign Yachts to start building two superyachts at the base by the end of this year.

But there is a legal requirement for the Crown to offer the base land to the descendants of its original owners if the property is not required by other Government departments for public works such as housing.

The Defence Minister, Mark Burton, said the base would be sold in accordance with the Public Works Act under which the land was obtained.

If the previous owners or other Government departments were not interested, it would be offered to Maori and possibly landbanked. Sale would be by public tender if the land was not otherwise required.

But any time lapse between the Air Force quitting the base in about 18 months and its sale and development was a primary fear yesterday for local Waitakere ratepaying businesses for whom Air Force personnel were valued customers.

The owner of Hobsonville Superette and Lotto, Satish Patel, said the Government had made plans for the Air Force to move but was offering no plans or time frame to local businesses so they would know what to expect.

"It could be a good five years or 10 years. By that time you are out of business completely. If the move is good for the Government it is good for the Government but then the Government is not giving any sort of assurance on when things will get back to normal."

Mr Patel said that apart from providing half of his customers the base offered a sense of security.

Hobsonville pharmacist, Jeff Spearman, said he had lived with uncertainty over the base for more than a decade.

"From a business point of view if there is a big lag time it might be detrimental but it really depends on the timing."

Percy Midgley can remember when the local Hobsonville cricket team played on the land - before it was an air base.

The 83-year-old farmer and base neighbour said of the closure: "You could call it progress, I suppose ... It means we won't have to stop our conversation when a helicopter goes over."

The closure will mean Hobsonville's Special Air Service unit will move to part of the former Papakura Army camp.

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