Dirk Hudig: Herne Bay Residents Association co-chair on rich-lister couple's helipad proposal facing community feedback

Auckland rich-listers Ali Williams and Anna Mowbray will be facing community feedback on their proposal to build a helipad at their Westmere home.

It will now be publicly notified, so opponents will get a say at a public hearing. 

Herne Bay Residents Association co-chair Dirk Hudig says helicopters are incredibly noisy and dirty. 

He says they're not needed in an urban environment - and explained there was a facility where they can launch 10 minutes from their house.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Together do to see Ellen rich List a couple Anna
Mobray and ex All Black. Ali Williams have had a
bit of a roadblock in their plans to build a
hallipad in Herne Bay. They've been wanting permission to have
two return flights a day to their mansion. Environmentalists and
nimbis though, don't like the idea. Now they've basically got
a little bit of a win for themselves. They're going
to get a public hearing to voice their concerns. Herne

(00:21):
Bay Residents Association co chair Dirk Hugh Digg is with
me now, hey.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Dirk, hi, how are you very well?

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Thank you? Why don't you like the hallipad?

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well? Helicopters and taking off and landing is not a
normal sort of a residential activity in an urban area.
Are They're noisy and they are so very dirty. If
you live next door to somebody who's got a helipad,
the noise is excruciating. You're going to go inside if

(00:54):
you're having a barbecue outside, Yes, and everybody's got to
go inside towards It's quite likely that you we're going
to have to clean all the garden furniture. They be
covered and stuff from Propeller Wash, it's just a distance
living next door to them.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
How close are you to the helicopter?

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Well, we have people who have helicopter learning just over.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
The fence, so you've already got this problem.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
There's three helicopter learning pads and they existing ones that
are that are consented?

Speaker 3 (01:28):
And how close are the ones on top of it?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
There's another ones on top of the boathouse? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:33):
And are these are these? Are these things messing up
your garden furniture? Dirk?

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Absolutely? And the one on the boathouse if the tides
in the wrong place and the next door neighbor gets
sea spray.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
And is anybody very close to Mowbray and Williams's helipad?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
There are people reasonably close to that. Yes, there's four
people who will be affected by by noise, according to
the documents issued yesterday to make it a public notification.
So noise beyond what they're what they're supposed to get.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Is there anything that these two can do to sort
of mitigate the effects and get the helipad over the line.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
I don't know exactly what they what they can do.
I mean, I think they should simply withdraw. It's not
it's not a not a usual activity in an urban area,
and it's just a nuisance. If you can imagine if
lots of people have these helipads, you'd have these helicopters

(02:34):
going back and forth all weekend. Then you've been over helicopters.
We get them here. They're just noisey in a nuisance.
There's no need for them. There's no need for them
in an urban setting when you can when you can
drive down to either the all Shore or Mechanics Bay
which is just you know, maybe for ten minutes away,

(02:56):
and you can take off from there from what's a
proper facility. Yeah, that's sort he is right.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
So there's basically no middle ground day. It's either either
either on or off basically exactly.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
And if you go to a lot of cities, particularly
in Australia, big cities, their band.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
All right, Hey, Duke, thank you for that.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Appreciate you having a chat to us, as Juke u
Dick Herne Bay Residence Association co chair. For more from
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