Latest news with #helipad
RNZ News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
'We're doing this for Auckland': Opponents of rich-listers' private helipad file appeal
The newly built house on Rawene Avenue. Photo: RNZ/Maia Ingoe A group trying to stop Auckland rich-listers Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams from flying a private helicopter from their multi-million-dollar Westmere property are taking legal action. Independent hearing commissioners appointed by Auckland Council approved the couple's controversial resource consent application for a private helipad in June. In a statement, Quiet Sky Waitematā, who oppose private helicopters in residential Auckland, said they filed an appeal against the decision to the Environment Court on Monday. Spokesperson Elena Keith said what they consider to be a "radical ruling" went against overwhelming opposition from the public. "We're not just doing this for Westmere. We're doing this for Auckland. If this decision isn't challenged, the floodgates for helicopters in backyards will open. We simply can't let this terrible decision stand. "The Independent Commissioners have decided that helicopters are 'inherently residential'. Therefore, they say that using a helicopter is a permitted activity - like using a bike or a car. In our opinion, that is absurd. "The decision could open the door for private helicopter operations in residential Auckland without the need for resource consent, putting the burden on neighbours to prove noise limit breaches. How is that fair?" She said communities shouldn't have to endure unnecessary noise and disruption for the benefit of a few individuals. "Auckland is already well-served by public heliports, all within a 15-minute drive." Councillor Mike Lee was expected to bring a Notice of Motion to ban helicopters in residential areas to the council's Policy and Planning Committee on Thursday, which councillors would vote on.
RNZ News
30-06-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Approving helipad build at Auckland home sets 'worrying precedent'
The Rawene Avenue property where the helipad will be built. Photo: RNZ/Maia Ingoe A group that opposed a controversial helipad at a private home in Auckland says granting the application sets a worrying precedent. Entrepreneur Anna Mowbray and former All Black Ali Williams will be allowed a helicopter pad at their Westmere home after their resource consent was approved by council-appointed commissioners. After weeks of deliberation, the commissioners' decision released on Monday stated flights would be limited to no more than two per day and 10 per month. Quiet Sky Waitematā which opposed the application said it was not the outcome they were hoping for. Its spokesperson Elena Keith told Morning Report the decision completely disregarded the impacts it would have on the neighbourhood and the local wildlife. "It really is particularly concerning with this decision because essentially they're saying if you can meet the noise requirements you can have a helicopter in your backyard," she said. During a five-day public hearing at Auckland Town Hall in May, the panel commissioners heard expert evidence from the couple's legal counsel and the group Quiet Sky Waitematā as well as submissions from members of the public, including several direct neighbours, opposing and supporting the application. In its decision, the panel said it was satisfied the couple restricting flights to daylight hours and sticking to a specified flight path avoiding residential areas would mean minimal disturbance. "We find that there is nothing untoward, unacceptable, or significantly out-of-character with helicopter noise in an urban residential environment. "What is more important in any proposal to undertake helicopter landings and take-offs in that environment is the extent/volume of that noise." The couple would also be required to get an Avifauna Monitoring Plan from a council-approved ornithologist to monitor disruption to the Meola Reef and nearby bird roost. According to Auckland Council, out of 1397 written submissions made on the application, a majority - 1227, or 87 percent - opposed the helipad on Rawene Avenue. One-hundred and eight were supportive, and 12 were neutral. Meanwhile locals from a neighbouring suburb, represented by the Herne Bay Residents Association believe Auckland Council misled it over the use of helicopters. Co-chairperson Don Mathieson said they understood from council that helicopters were not permitted, but the unitary plan says otherwise. "Helicopters were judged to be a 'restricted discretionary activity' under the unitary plan and not a 'not permitted activity' as the council had always told us and stated," he said. Auckland Council has been approached for comment. Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams along with their lawyer Chris Simmons have also been approached for comment. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Wall Street Journal
30-05-2025
- Automotive
- Wall Street Journal
A California Home With a 24,000-Square-Foot Car Museum Lists for $125 Million
In California's Orange County, a 137-acre compound with a helipad and car museum is hitting the market for $125 million. Located in the upscale Coto de Caza gated community, the property was built in the 1980s by the late Maj. Gen. William Lyon, a onetime U.S. Air Force Reserve Commander and real-estate developer who ran a home-building company in Orange County.
RNZ News
29-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Auckland millionaires fail to attend controversial helipad hearing in person
The Rawene Avenue property where the helipad might be built. Photo: RNZ/Maia Ingoe Multi-millionaire couple Anna Mowbray and Ali Williams have not taken up the chance to personally convince a hearing that they should be granted a suburban helipad. Thursday was the final day for the applicants to satisfy the panel of independent commissioners that their application meets the demands and conditions of a helicopter pad at their Rawene Avenue property in Westmere, Auckland. The resource consent application hearing was adjourned on Thursday, with the couple absent from the hearing. Anna Mowbray of Zuru Toys and the job platform Zeil, and former All-Black Ali Williams' contentious application hearing has gone ahead this month at the Auckland Town Hall, without their physical presence throughout. During the hearing, a panel of independent commissioners have heard expert evidence and submissions from those opposing and supporting the application. The hearing is not yet officially closed, RNZ understands this could take another week with the panel now deliberating whether they require further information. The independent panel will then have a 15 working day window to announce a decision, meaning the couple will have to wait until later next month to hear an outcome. The applicants' lawyer, Chris Simmons, asked the panel not to let their absence influence their decision making. "I'll take a moment just to encourage the panel not to read anything into the applicants' physical absence from the hearing," he said. "They are absolutely invested in this application, they've been involved and in fact, I think that they've observed online, every minute of proceedings. "The applicants have adopted a comprehensive approach to consultation and undertaken a thorough examination of potential adverse effects that been identified," the lawyer said. According to Auckland Council, out of 1397 written submissions made on the application, a majority - 1227, or 87 percent - opposed the helipad . One hundred and eight were supportive, and 12 were neutral. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
ABC News
17-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Doctor questions new Shellharbour hospital's helipad snub
A senior Illawarra doctor and aerial retrieval specialist says the Minns government's decision not to include a helipad in the initial construction of the new $780 million Shellharbour Hospital ignores common sense and "doesn't pass the pub test". Trevor Gardner is an anaesthetist and expert in airborne infection control for the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District. He also works as a medical transport specialist with CareFlight in the Northern Territory and has flown military medical retrieval missions since 1993. Dr Gardner spoke out after this week's heated parliamentary debate on the Health Services Amendment (Hospital Helipads) Bill 2025, introduced by independent Kiama MP Gareth Ward. The bill would require any new public hospital with an emergency department — or any hospital undergoing major redevelopment — to include a helipad if classified Level 3 or above under NSW Health guidelines. "The new $780 million Shellharbour Hospital project will include an expanded emergency department but not a helipad," Mr Ward told parliament when he introduced the bill last year. "The design includes the provision for one, but on day one there will not be one open." The bill was supported this week by Shadow Minister for Health Kelly Sloane, who called helipads "lifesaving infrastructure". "In an emergency, seconds and minutes matter and sometimes helicopter transport can be the best way to ensure that a patient receives the care that they need," she said. Greens MP Kobi Shetty said the issue pointed to a broader problem. Parliamentary Secretary for Health Michael Holland said Shellharbour was not a trauma hospital and that "for the cost of a helipad that may not even be used, we could fund 10 full-time ICU nurses for a year". Labor MP for Shellharbour Anna Watson said the bill was about "scaring people" and that the hospital was designed to allow a future helipad "if and when clinical needs justify it". She said helicopters could land nearby in emergencies. But Dr Gardner said the situation could not be left to chance. "What you don't want to do is to have to wheel incredibly sick people out of the emergency department into an ambulance, drive them 500 meters or 5 kilometres down the road to a park or a local airport and then have to transfer them back again into the helicopter," he said. He also rejected the idea that Shellharbour did not need a helipad because it was not a trauma centre. "Whether it's trauma or medical … of course people who are seriously injured will turn up," he said. "They'll exceed the hospital's capacity and they'll need to be transferred." He said while the government "could argue the toss" on the cost saving, it did not "float" with him. "Speaking personally as somebody with skin in the game — having worked as the director of trauma, still flying retrieval, having flown patients out and received them — you must build a helipad if you build a new hospital," he said. NSW Health and Health Minister Ryan Park have been contacted for comment.
