Photo: NZDF
The Defence Force has taken the Selwyn District Council to the Environment Court over its refusal to ban residents living near an army rifle range from complaining about its noise.
A hearing began on Monday in Christchurch.
The military wanted new properties and developments built near the West Melton Rifle Range to be subject to a "no-complaints covenant", to protect itself from neighbours raising issues about noise at the range.
The Selwyn District Council declined to include the covenant in its district plan, and the Defence Force has appealed to the Environment Court to reverse this decision.
In an opening submission, the lawyer for the Defence Force Sarah Mitchell said the West Melton Rifle Range had been used since the 1940s and occupied 422 hectares.
"It is used primarily as a rifle range and also for grenade practice, training in the use of explosives, and general military training.
"It is a nationally important training facility for the New Zealand Defence Force and the only long-range facility in the South Island," she said.
Pressure for development in Greater Christchurch, particularly in the Selwyn District, had brought residential and rural residential development closer to the rifle range, she said.
Mitchell said the Defence Force had received a low number of complaints about noise from the range, but it was concerned that if the number of complaints increased the military may be required to limit its operations beyond the current procedures used to manage noise.
"This would have significant consequences for the New Zealand Defence Force and potentially New Zealand security," she said.
"In particular, restrictions on the New Zealand Defence Force's operations at the range could make it more difficult for it to ensure that soldiers can be adequately trained," Mitchell said.
Provisions in the council district plan must provide appropriate protections for the range, she said.
"The New Zealand Defence Force's experience is that no-complaints covenants are an effective and low-cost measure of mitigating the risk of reverse sensitivity effects arising from development in close proximity to noisy defence facilities," Mitchell said.
The hearing continues.
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