A Kensington resident frustrated by noisy rescue helicopters still flying overhead says he is not surprised the controversial chopper base will remain in the Whangārei suburb for another year.
Alan Kerrisk said he had expected that when Whangārei District Council extended the Northland Emergency Services Trust Kensington lease for up to three years from August 2023.
The helicopter went on 1106 missions in 2023, which meant more than 2000 flights in and out of the residential Whangārei suburb of Kensington.
About 20% of the flights were at night.
Kerrisk opposed the base staying in his area and wanted assurances it will be gone from Kensington.
“I want to know what is happening to make sure the move does actually take place,” he said.
The year-by-year lease extension ends on July 31, 2026.
It was granted to the Northland Emergency Services Trust days before its decade-long 2013 Kensington lease expired in July 2023.
The extension’s first year was up at the end of this month.
Ahead of the extension, Kerrisk called on the Whangārei District Council to create a council rescue helicopter committee for Kensington, with formal agendas and recorded minutes. This has not happened.
“The council setting the committee up would show it is working with affected residents to look at mitigation and ensuring the helicopter base’s move from Kensington is not stalling."
Council district development manager Tony Collins said nothing had changed in terms of the Northland Emergency Services Trust needing to leave Kensington in June 2026.
The council expected the operation to relocate to Whangārei airport in Onerahi by then, subject to successful lease negotiations.
“We anticipate that by then the lease will have been formalised, that the Northland Emergency Services Trust will have built its new facilities and that it will be operating from the airport site,” Collins said.
He said the council and the Northland Emergency Services Trust were working towards relocating the rescue helicopter base to Onerahi following a High Court decision in council’s favour.
“We are working with the Northland Emergency Services Trust for a potential lease at the airport, with the Northland Emergency Services Trust progressing its building design,” Collins said.
The trust’s Kensington presence has been of ongoing concern for neighbours.
Many Whangārei airport neighbours were also against the base shifting to their Onerahi seaside suburb.
Both groups were worried about helicopter noise.
Collins said the Northland Emergency Services Trust had exercised its right to take up a second year’s lease extension. This was an administrative matter and did not need a formal council decision.
Northland Emergency Services Trust chairman Paul Ahlers said the lease extension allowed an adequate but flexible timeline for the trust and the council to work through the relocation.
Ahlers said plans for a new base at Whangārei airport were nearly completed.
A lease agreement would soon be finalised for land at the airport.
The new Onerahi airport-based building would be finished before the end of 2025 and the relocation would happen before the 2026 lease expiry date.
Ahlers said High Court action by "a small group" of Onerahi airport shift opponents had held up the move.
Onerahi shift opponents group SOUND spokesperson Paul Doherty said the group’s High Court judicial review case had been an important step in the democratic process, despite being unsuccessful.
Ahlers said the Northland Emergency Services Trust continued to engage with residents who had concerns about its flight operations or base activity.
“At the time of writing, we are not aware of any current complaints from Kensington residents,” Ahlers said.
Collins said the Northland Emergency Services Trust had been operating from Kensington since 1988.
There had been no noise monitoring during that time.
The Northland Emergency Services Trust refuels its helicopters at Onerahi airport.
Local Democracy Reporting Northland asked how often the helicopters breached the Fly Neighbourly programme’s 1000 feet flying height between Kensington and Onerahi.The height is designed to mitigate helicopter noise production.
Ahlers said the Fly Neighbourly programme was voluntary.
“It is not always possible to do this, especially when weather conditions or safety may dictate different operating conditions."
Local Democracy Reporting is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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