Runway application on hold

Stuff reports:

Controversial plans to extend Wellington Airport’s runway have been put on hold.

Greater Wellington Regional Council and Wellington City Council both received a request from Wellington International Airport on Friday to pause the processing of consent applications for its $300 million runway extension.

The airport is seeking permission to add an extra 355 metres to its runway by reclaiming land in Lyall Bay.

Doing so would allow for direct long-haul flights between Wellington and Asia.

The project attracted 776 public submissions, with 525 of them against the proposal.

Airport spokesman Greg Thomas said management wanted to take a few weeks to review the feedback and check everything was in order with the application before proceeding.

“Because of the number of submissions, we want to make sure we’ve taken the time to review all those. To make sure all due diligence is done before we finalise the application.”

This was one of the last steps before the application reached the Environment Court, Thomas said.

Not sure how significant this move is, but it seems unusual.

UPDATE: Am told that is probably only a delay of a few weeks so the Airport has time to consider all the submissions and respond more fully to them.