Rural consultation set to start
The future of rural areas in the Queenstown Lakes District will be the subject of a major community consultation exercise over the coming months.
“Rural areas in this district are changing and we want to make sure that this community feels comfortable with how the District Plan works to protect these areas,” QLDC strategy committee chairwoman Gillian Macleod said.
Looking at how rural areas are managed is a step towards reviewing the parts of the District Plan that address these areas, most of which were written 10 or more years ago.
“For many people, rural areas are the most recognisable parts of our District, playing a large part in forming our identity, both on a local and national level,” said Ms Macleod.
“We understand that there is likely to be a range of views, from those who feel that the rules are too restrictive to those that feel too much development is being allowed,” she said.
However, an enormous amount had been invested in creating the District Plan and there needed to be a lot of careful thought put in before any changes were made.
“We are not about to make immediate changes to how the District Plan manages rural areas. But we do want to look at whether the Plan reflects our communities’ values and addresses their concerns, and then consider making changes accordingly.”
To ‘kick start’ the debate, the council had prepared maps and plans showing where development has been given resource consent in rural areas. These are available on the council website www.qldc.govt.nz or will be on display at council offices and libraries across the district over the coming weeks.
A discussion document, looking at some of the issues around development in rural areas, was also available on the council website.
“I strongly recommend that anyone with an interest in rural general land use should get informed and take the opportunity to influence how the District Plan will manage these areas in the future,” Ms Macleod said.
Feedback should be received at the council by Friday, June 18, 2010.