Whether commercial guided bike tours should operate on urban trails was among the issues raised at a hearing in Wanaka last week.
Cycle Tours New Zealand, owned by Beau Rapley, of Jacks Point, has applied to the Queenstown Lakes District Council for a 10-year licence to run trips on trails across council-administered recreation reserve land, mostly in the Wanaka-Hawea area.
These include the Waterfall Creek, Outlet and Beacon Point tracks.
Mr Rapley already holds a 10-year concession for the commercial use of trails on Department of Conservation reserve land and is seeking resource consent for the activity, which he said he had been planning for two years.
Wanaka resident Graham Dickson said where there were on-road alternatives, commercial cycling groups should not be using tracks in urban areas.
Denis Nugent, of Albert Town, suggested the applicant could upgrade and widen the Outlet Track to make it more suitable for cyclists.
Both men knew pedestrians who had been injured in collisions with cyclists.
