Chopper access issue for royalty

A ROTORUA luxury lodge says Prince Andrew wants to return to the city with his family but can't chopper in to his preferred elite accommodation - making Rotorua look behind the times.

Peppers on the Point at Kawaha Point is fighting the Rotorua District Council in an Environment Court hearing over its use of helicopters.

The council says the district plan doesn't allow the lodge to fly visitors in and out of the residential area and the lodge has broken the bylaw 18 times in as many months.

Peppers on the Point says helicopter access is a necessity as part of a successful luxury resort operation.

Jamie Main, who owns the resort with her husband, Ron, told the Daily Post outside the hearing yesterday celebrities and royalty all over the world were flown in helicopters to where they stayed.

"You can do it everywhere in the world except in Rotorua ... Prince Andrew wants to come back and stay but what's he going to do?"

Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, stayed in Rotorua in March.

The council has taken action against Peppers on the Point through the Environment Court following complaints from residents, one of whom is the Mains' neighbour, Doug Clemens.

The two-day hearing at the Millennium Hotel wrapped up yesterday but Judge John Bollard has reserved his decision.

But he has indicated the district plan is clear - helicopters in residential areas are prohibited.

Lawyer Murray McKechnie, who acts for Peppers on the Point, said the district plan was 20 years old and needed updating.

"The plan is hopelessly out of date and it doesn't recognise the need for some ability for superior resort facilities to be accessed by helicopter."


Mr McKechnie said outside the hearing it wouldn't be a good look for Rotorua if the council didn't budge but he doubted it would affect Prince Andrew's plans to come back to Rotorua.

"But he will think 'what's wrong with Rotorua?'."

Judge Bollard said the council's district plan was to be reviewed in March 2009. He said he had to make a ruling based on the plan as it was now.

He suggested Peppers on the Point get together with other resorts in the area, some of which reportedly also used helicopters, to have a face-to-face meeting with the council to get them to change the district plan.

But Mr McKechnie argued that was a mammoth and costly task for the resort to undertake when the council should make the effort itself.

Judge Bollard sympathised with Mr McKechnie's argument but said it wasn't the court's job to dictate to the council what it should do.