By Lloyd Burr
A Wellington family told to pack up their lives and vacate their airport-side home are in a state of shock.
Michael Brown and his family live in one of 22 houses owned by Wellington Airport that are earmarked for demolition.
He has six months to find someone where else to live.
The airport says the land, on Bridge St, will be affected by future noise as aircraft and operations change.
They have identified 700 properties which will need to be upgraded to mitigate the noise pollution. They also want to buy a number of properties which cannot be upgraded and demolish those houses too.
Mr Brown, a sculptor by trade, says he’s been in a state of disbelief since opening the eviction letter last night.
“I was just shocked. We are really, really shocked. It has changed our whole year now. We don’t really know what’s going to happen now,” he says.
“I feel like the people of Christchurch – you just don’t know where you stand, you don’t have the money to move on so you just have to go to where you can.”
Mr Brown pays $300 per week for his airport-owned property. The rent is cheap because of the noise, which is not an issue for his family.
“The noise isn’t that bad at all really. There are only about three planes which are noisy, which last for about a minute.”
He says moving to another property will see his rent nearly double.
“I’ve been looking on Trade Me and through the papers and the market rents are basically twice what we are paying.
“It’s almost at the impossible stage and we basically have to look at Housing New Zealand or a council flat.”
Mr Brown says having to look at social housing options is a nightmare because every New Zealander wants their own “castle”.
He is even contemplating getting a mortgage and buying his own house.
The move will affect his work too as he needs somewhere to accommodate his tools and materials.
Demolition of the houses begins in November with the land eventually landscaped and left as one large open corridor.
3 News