Second runway arguments fall on deaf ears

Papatoetoe residents have stopped fighting plans for a second runway at Auckland Airport, but are still unhappy. PHILIP ENGLISH talks to three women who live in the flight path.

Billie Walker and her neighbours live near the centre of Manukau City, almost directly beneath the flightpath of aircraft taking off and landing at Auckland Airport.

They have lived in Papatoetoe for years and are constantly reminded of that fact - there is no relief from the shrill noise and rumbling of big jets from the airport flying over day and night.

Occasionally, ornaments rattle on their shelves. More frequently, pictures hanging on the wall need straightening and conversations on the telephone have to wait until a jet passes over.

The Environment Court has given the airport company permission to build a second runway to the north of the existing one at Mangere, but only after making big concessions to allay the noise concerns of residents and schools.

These include offering packages for sound insulation and ventilation to 2000 homes and seven schools in the flight path.

For Mrs Walker and her friends, the battle against the noise is no longer worth continuing.

Mrs Walker believes trying to fight big business is futile.

"The little people don't count anymore."

The women expect the noise to increase as smaller aircraft use the new runway and big jets continue to use the existing runway, perhaps at an increased frequency.

The offer of insulation and ventilation for existing dwellings and schools in zones affected by noise, announced as part of a deal allowing for 30 years' of airport growth, does not excite them.

Mrs Walker says she is not happy with the idea of noise insulation and the feeling of claustrophobia that would accompany it.

"If it improves things I suppose you will have to have it, but I am the kind of person who likes the outside."

Neighbour Marion Helg thinks the same, as does Maryann Lewis, who moved into the area in the mid-1970s with her aircraft engineer husband, when aviation employees were part of the community.

Apart from the disruption caused by noise, the three women become concerned when they hear a big jet lumbering overhead.

They question whether the airport company needs the second runway and think one to the south of the existing runway would be safer.

"They don't need two runways.

"They are just feeding their egos," says Mrs Walker.

Maryann Lewis said that before the airport was corporatised she could find someone to talk to when she wanted to complain about excessive noise or a low-flying aircraft.

Now, when she complains, she says, she ends up talking to an "upstart".

Mrs Walker told her friends that some time ago she heard a jet with its engines screaming about 3.30 am.

"They are not supposed to do that," she said.

"But they do," said Maryann Lewis.

"Yes," said Mrs Helg.

The airport company has said that concessions were made on the site of the new runway and its length, to lessen the areas affected by noise.

The Manukau City Council has written to local property owners explaining the agreement between the council, the airport company, community representatives opposed to the northern runway and other agencies.

It will allow for 30 years of growth at the airport.