Removing Wanaka slip top of the agenda; investigation second

Wanaka commuters were blocked from driving along Lakeside Rd by a mudslide from the Marina Terrace construction site. Photo / Kerrie Waterworth

There will be a full investigation into the cause of a landslip which has been blocking a Wanaka road for more than four days but for now the priority is to remove the slip.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council and the Marina Terrace Apartment developers were hoping the slip could have been removed from Lakeside Rd yesterday but the dewatering of the site was still being assessed by geotechnical engineers.

Once the site is assessed as being stable by the engineers, the slip will be removed.

Contractors worked through the night in shifts over the weekend, dewatering and stabilising the site.

The slip which came down from the apartments site on Thursday night is still where it stopped on Friday morning and the road will remain closed until it is removed.

QLDC communications and engagement manager Naell Crosby-Roe said the council was in regular communication with the developer about when the slip might be removed.

A council enforcement officer had been assigned to investigate the slip and would work with the developers and their contractors to determine the cause, Mr Crosby-Roe said.

It was a requirement for the council to allocate an enforcement officer in events such as a slip and did not mean the developer had broken any consents.

All the consents and approvals for work on the site would be looked at with the developer and the council would then determine if any further action was necessary, he said.

Marina Terrace spokesman Matt Tuck said the main focus for the developers at this stage was to have the site stabilised and the slip removed.

There was regular communication between the developers and the QLDC about what was happening at the site, Mr Tuck said.

"The staff from the council have been excellent and we've been very open about what we've been doing and will continue to be," he said

Staff from the Otago Regional Council had also visited the site and found none of their bylaws had been breached by the slip.

"On Friday morning our main concern was stopping it from reaching the lake."