Development of rural land opposed

Lake Hawea

The ongoing battle over the future development of rural land in the Upper Clutha continues today in another resource consent hearing.

Neighbours Dominic Stayne and Julie Jones have applied for resource consent to develop 11.4ha of rural land into a five section subdivision in Ballantyne Rd.

Two of the sections already have consented building platforms and buildings on them.

The land is zoned rural-general.

A resource consent hearing on the proposal is being held in Wanaka at the Edgewater resort from 11am today.

Only one submission was made against the proposal and it came from the Upper Clutha Environmental Society.

It was one of six proposals to subdivide rural land in the Upper Clutha which the UCES has opposed in the past six months.

All eight of the immediate neighbours had approved the plans.

Queenstown Lakes District Council senior planner Sarah Gathercole has recommended if no further evidence was presented at the hearing then the application should be refused.

If the subdivision was approved, the rural character, landscape and the visual amenity of the landscape would be adversely affected, Ms Gathercole said.

Two other current resource consents to subdivide rural land near Lake Hawea have also been opposed by the UCES.

John Cossens wants to subdivide 20ha of land into four sections about 3km south of Lake Hawea in the Albert Town-Lake Hawea Rd.

East of the Lake Hawea township in Nook Rd, Vicki and Jamie Urquhart have applied for resource consent to subdivide 5.4ha of land into five sections with building platforms.

The UCES has opposed both consents because, in its opinion, they would domesticate and degrade the rural landscape of the site and surrounding area.