A Wanaka man may have saved the local council from making a potentially costly error.
Julian Haworth, on behalf of the Upper Clutha Environmental Society in public forum at an extraordinary meeting of the Queenstown Lakes District Council this week, urged the council to reconsider its submission on the proposed Resource Management Act reforms.
The reforms, outlined in a report considered by councillors at Tuesday's meeting, propose changes in the residential zone to improve processes for specific housing consents.
Mr Haworth said the effect of the changes combined with the council's discretionary regime could mean "99% of residential subdivision and development in the rural landscapes of this district will not be publicly notified''.
If the council approved the change, as per its submission, it would be saying it always got its decisions on subdivision and development right and it believed there would be "no point in permitting public notification because there is no useful knowledge out there in the community'', Mr Haworth said.
The reason for the central government legislative change was supposedly to alleviate the housing supply crisis, but that could not be done by allowing "inappropriate residences to be scattered over the ... Queenstown Lakes district''.
"I am asking you to submit to the select committee saying the Queenstown Lakes District Council rejects this reform ...''
Acting district plan manager Blair Devlin said, initially, he did not believe what Mr Haworth said was correct, based on summary advice received from central government.
The report before the council said, as part of the proposed reforms, that "decisions on all subdivision and housing (in residential zones) applications that were anticipated by zoning ... will be made without public notification and with limits to the parties who can be considered as being affected''.
Applications that did not comply would be able to be publicly notified.
Mr Devlin told councillors it was "pretty clear'' the council's rural zone was not residential.
However, Mr Haworth had with him a copy of the section of the Act the change related to.
That was circulated and Cr Simon Stamers-Smith said it "without a doubt'' provided for non-notification of any subdivision, including on rural land.
Mayor Vanessa van Uden recommended an amended submission be put to the local government and environment select committee opposing any proposal that would permit subdivision in the rural general zone from being mandatorily non-notified.
