It's vast, open and empty – but locals in Tarras say it's not the right place for a new international airport that will encourage unbridled tourism growth
Young climate activists staged a protest in Christchurch yesterday over controversial plans to build an international airport in Central Otago, as opposition to the project gains momentum.
If it goes ahead, it will be the largest aviation project in New Zealand in more than 50 years.
Christchurch City Council owns 75 percent of Christchurch International Airport, which is why the council was targeted by the School Strike for Climate Ōtautahi. The airport plans to develop farmland it owns at Tarras into a 2.6 kilometre runway capable of taking wide-bodied jets.
Local groups and an organisation of academics called Informed Leaders are challenging the plan, claiming it goes against efforts to control tourism in the region.
"It's simply a corporate land grab for market share to make money," Wānaka Stakeholders Group member Michael Ross tells The Detail. "They're making money out of our scenery because they haven't got it back in Christchurch.
"Do the people of the area want it? Do the people of the area actually need it? I'm pretty sure the answer to both of those questions is no."
The group, which stopped the development of a jet airport at Wānaka after taking the fight to the High Court, has just released results of a survey of members that shows 83 percent of the 608 respondents oppose the Tarras airport.
"A number of those respondents recognised that yes, an airport at Tarras would be convenient for them, but nevertheless they opposed it," group chair Meg Taylor says.
Local people including tourism business owners are concerned that an "airport corporation is coming into our district and wanting to make decisions on large scale infrastructure that is going to have a fairly overwhelming impact, and that impact is obviously climate and environment-related but it's also a massive impact on infrastructure," Taylor says.
Christchurch International Airport, also 25 percent Crown-owned, has kept a low profile on its plans but today The Detail talks to the chief strategy and stakeholder officer Michael Singleton about why it bought 750 hectares of farmland in the Upper Clutha valley near Tarras village nearly three years ago. He also responds to questions about the advisory role of Duncan Small, husband of National's finance spokesperson Nicola Willis, and any potential future conflict of interest given the Crown's stake in the airport.
"We're still in a planning phase, we haven't made any fixed decisions on what will happen here," says Singleton. "We're exploring the potential for a new airport for Central Otago."
He points to the capacity constraints of Queenstown Airport, an hour's drive down the road, combined with the growing needs of a thriving region as factors behind its proposal.
With current capacity it is estimated that by 2050 three people will be fighting for one seat on a flight in or out of the region, but the constraints will "start to bite" by 2030, he says.
If it goes ahead after a lengthy approval process, the project would likely open in the 2030s. Singleton does not give an estimate of the cost, stressing the "discovery" phase the project is at.
"We haven't had a project in aviation, a new airport, considered in New Zealand for 50-plus years so it does take a lot of work. So while we've done a lot and we've more than scratched the surface there's still a lot of work we have to do."
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