PO Box 14001
Christchurch 8544
New Zealand
Telephone (+64 3) 358 5029
christchurchairport.co.nz
19 July 2024
Duncan Kenderdine
Email: c/-
[FYI request #27318 email]
Dear Mr Kenderdine,
OFFICIAL INFORMATION ACT 1982 (OIA) – REQUESTS FOR INFORMATION - CHRISTCHURCH
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT LIMITED (CIAL)
1. We write further to our email of 24 June 2024, acknowledging receipt of your OIA request of 20
June 2024 seeking the following information (if held by CIAL):
Request: Any memos from WSP and Boffa Miskell on the proposed Tarras Airport
Please provide a copy of any memos or reports [Boffa Miskell and WSP] have provided to you,
particularly as regards flora, fauna, planning or infrastructure.
(the “
Request”).
2. CIAL will provide you with the requested information where it is able. However, you will note within
this letter that it is occasionally unable to release requested information. Various reasons may
include if the information is subject to legal privilege or it would prejudice or disadvantage CIAL’s
commercial activities. Before we answer your specific queries, it may be helpful to provide some
context to this.
3. CIAL is a council-controlled trading organisation that has been specifically established to operate
and manage its business as an independent commercial undertaking for the purposes of making a
profit, and to follow generally accepted commercial practices and disciplines. CIAL is not a public
body collecting and spending public funds. It operates as a wholly commercial, standalone entity.
Due to the size and scale of those activities it is one of only three major airports in New Zealand
regulated under Part 4 of the Commerce Act and has a further overriding obligation under the
Airport Authorities Act to act as a commercial undertaking.
4. CIAL’s investigations to date with respect to the Central Otago Airport project (the “
Project”) are
a complex commercial activity, acknowledged as being in competition with the interests of other
airports within New Zealand. To assist public understanding of the context of the Project , CIAL has
and will as circumstances require proactively published information as it completes pieces of work
which is likely to be in the public interest to receive on its dedicated Project web-site at
https://www.centralotagoairport.co.nz/ (the “
Project Website”). In such instances the public
interest test will have been considered and weighed up as part of the decision whether to release
information or not. Equally, each OIA query CIAL receives will be assessed on a case by case basis
given the particular given facts and circumstances at play at that time.
5. In respect of your Request, we advise:
(a) WSP have been engaged to prepare a Power Supply Feasibility Assessment however this
report forms part of a larger study that remains subject to legal professional privilege and
therefore your request is refused on the basis of section 9(2)(h) of the OIA.
(b) CIAL engaged Boffa Miskell to prepare a report on Avifauna. A summary of the findings
are publicly available on our website page:
https://www.centralotagoairport.co.nz/uploads/images/COA-The-effects-of-aviation-on-
birdlife-in-their-natural-habitat.pdf
https://www.centralotagoairport.co.nz/uploads/images/COA-Avifauna-Birdstrike.pdf
The unpublished information from the report may impact on CIAL’s ability to carry out its
commercial activities without disadvantage and we do not consider this is outweighed in
the circumstances by the public interest in making the information available. Accordingly,
at this time, the balance of information contained in the report is withheld under Section
9(2)(i) of the OIA.
(c) The following reports have been commissioned from third party consultants with the
assistance of Boffa Miskell:
(i) Freshwater Ecology Values;
(ii) Botanical Survey Report;
(iii) Survey of Terrestrial Invertebrates; and
(iv) Lizard Survey.
These reports are outside the scope of your Request as they have not been prepared by
Boffa Miskell. Notwithstanding this, your request would be refused in any event as this
information remains subject to legal professional privilege pursuant to section 9(2)(h) of
the OIA.
6. We trust we have answered your requests for information. If you require any further information
or we have in some way misinterpreted your requests, please let us know.
7. You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of the decisions
contained in this letter. Information about how to contact the Ombudsman or make a complaint is
available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
Yours sincerely
CIAL LEGAL TEAM
Email
: [Christchurch International Airport Limited request email]
