The Wanaka Community Board has backed a land swap proposal which would give greater public access to Mt Burke Station's Flax Paddock lakeside recreation area.
Mt Burke Station Ltd has proposed removing an unformed section of legal road that runs through the station parallel to the edge of Lake Wanaka and swapping it with a new road to be vested in the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
It also proposed creating a short length of new road or a Department of Conservation reserve between Maungawera Valley Rd and the marginal strip in the area known as Flax Paddock, to improve public lake access.
The area is used at present by a small number of people with the permission of station lessee Tim Burdon.
At its meeting yesterday, the community board unanimously approved the development of a stakeholder agreement around the proposal with Mt Burke Station and other parties, including the Clutha Fisheries Trust, Upper Clutha Anglers Club, Upper Clutha Tracks Trust, Otago Fish and Game, Land Information New Zealand and Doc.
Deputy mayor and community board member Lyal Cocks said he had been involved with the proposal for many years and the decision to proceed with developing an agreement was a ''really major step forward''.
QLDC principal infrastructure planner Denis Mander said the development of the agreement would be led by the council's infrastructure department and he would report back to the community board if there were any significant changes to what had been proposed.
Otherwise, the agreement would be taken to the council for approval.
