Western Springs Speedway gets Nats' support

Protesters at a demonstration in favour of the Speedway in December. File picture / Glenn Jeffrey

The National Party has thrown its support behind the Western Springs Speedway, which faces closure over noise regulations.

National leader Don Brash today announced radical changes his party would make to the Resource Management Act at the speedway saying it was a good example of where the Act had gone wrong.

"I am announcing this policy at the Western Springs Speedway because the fiasco here illustrates how Labour's failing resource management policies are impacting on ordinary New Zealanders," Dr Brash said, with backing of the party's environment spokesman Nick Smith.

"Mainstream New Zealanders are sick and tired of Labour backing minority groups at the public's expense."

However, the Springs Stadium Residents Association is opposed to the noise and last year won an Environment Court decision that the speedway comply with noise limits.

Residents association lawyer Martin Williams said he believed Dr Smith was in election campaign mode.

"I think he's basically pulling something of an election stunt here. It's interesting to see the National Party that advocates free market is essentially picking a winner for a very selective piece of legislation."

Mr Williams said the residents were trying to have existing rules adhered to.

"All that's at stake is compliance with the District Plan noise limit and, under any planning legislation in any civilised country in the world, there are regulations placing noise limits and there's nothing that the National Party would do to change that."



He said the speedway could be closed after 75 years in operation because of local council changes to noise limits.

The court also previously decided that speedway operators -- Springs Promotions -- had no existing use rights an issue which was then taken to the High Court.

In June, Justice Tony Randerson reserved his decision in the High Court case on whether existing use rights were taken into account when an 85-decibel limit was set in 1998.

The issue is unlikely to be resolved before the new season opens on November 5.

Today Mr Smith said the speedway was caught up in a "bureaucratic quagmire" because of the 1998 limit included in the Auckland City Council's District Plan.

Dr Smith said the limit would force closure of the speedway and any attempt to change the District Plan to a higher limit would take at least two or three years under the RMA.

Also this week National plans to move amendments in Parliament, during debate on the Resource Management Act Amendment Bill, to empower the Auckland City Council to introduce an immediate plan change to increase the noise limit for the speedway to take effect from the date of public notification.

This would mean the speedway could continue to operate while the case continued to be fought out before the courts.

- NZPA