Call for Carbon Neutrality on Airport
The Paraparaumu Airport Coalition is calling for the Airport development to
become New Zealand’s first commercial carbon neutral zone.
Coalition spokesperson Lyndy McIntyre says the developers should now
initiate urgent action to get a full, independent, carbon audit and then
compare it with the carbon output expected from their proposals.
“I am sure the Kapiti Coast District Council, which is now committed to a
climate change policy, would back this measure 100 per cent,” she said.
Ms McIntyre says the ‘Big Box’ proposals of the developers, with 29,000
vehicle movements a day, have serious implications for the Kapiti Coast’s
carbon levels.
“We urgently need to start taking this issue very seriously,” she says,
“particularly as the Kapiti Coast is under threat from rising sea levels
caused by global warming.”
The Coalition has also criticised Auckland developer Noel Robinson’s
inadequate ecological report to the Council in its proposals for a plan
change at the Airport.
KCDC Councillor Alan Tristram, convenor of the Airport Coalition, says it is
ludicrous for Mr Robinson to claim a massive big box commercial development
is the key to ensuring the future of an endangered rare orchard species on
the Airport.
He says the councillors were split evenly on the issue of allowing this
massive industrial and commercial development to even go to a hearing.
“If they’d realised how flaky the ecological report was, the result may have
been different. After all, only the Mayor’s vote allowed the project to go
forward,” Cr Tristram says.
Cr Tristram says an independent carbon audit would undoubtedly show that
29,000 vehicles a day and massive earthworks for the Big Box development,
would increase Kapiti’s carbon footprint.
“It’s really silly to claim that this development is positive for the
environment and will save the orchid,” he says, “when it is likely to
destroy much of the present coastal environment and lifestyle at Paraparaumu
Beach.”
ENDS