Council to be offered track management

Looking up the Arrow River towards Soho Station. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
Looking up the Arrow River towards Soho Station. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.

Queenstown Lakes ratepayers will get a great deal if the council takes on the management of 13 tracks on Coronet Peak and Glencoe Stations, the stations' supervisor says.

Tomorrow, the council will consider a recommendation by parks and reserves planning manager Stephen Quin to take on day-to-day responsibility for the tracks.

The stations' owner, Soho Property Ltd, would form or upgrade the tracks at no cost to ratepayers, and maintain them for the first three years.

The council would then take over their maintenance, but with its financial contribution limited to $10,000 a year.

Soho Property supervisor Russell Hamilton, who oversees the management of Coronet Peak and Glencoe as well as Motatapu and Mount Soho Stations, said the tracks were "something of a gift'' to the district.

"I think they're going to be a real asset - they open up the hinterland at the back of Arrowtown.''

Some had been open unofficially for a while - including New Chum Gully, Bush Creek, Crown Peak and Advance Peak - and were getting "huge'' use.

Mr Quin said development of the tracks was a condition of the Overseas Investment Office's approval of Soho Property's purchase of the two stations in 2011. As well as guaranteeing public access to existing tracks, Soho was required to build new tracks to a back country standard.

The request for the council to take on their management had come from the QEII National Trust, which had also requested the Department of Conservation manage eight other tracks on the stations.

The Walking Access Commission (WAC) was in the process of applying to the Commissioner of Crown Lands for walkway easements for a total of 18 tracks on the two stations to secure legal public access, he said.

A governance group made up of representatives from the council, the QEII National Trust, Soho Property, Doc, the Queenstown Trails Trust and the Arrowtown Village Association would make decisions about any major repairs or upgrades, and the tracks' availability for events or commercial activities.

A joint council and WAC report on the tracks, released last November, said the Queenstown Mountain Bike Club and the Queenstown Trails Trust were particularly interested in the creation of a 50km mountain bike and walking trail called the "Coronet Loop Track''.

"I think it's going to turn into something pretty special.''

Soho Property entered into four covenants with the QEII National Trust in 2014 to protect more than 53,000ha across Coronet Peak, Glencoe, Motatapu and Mount Soho Stations.

The company, which leases the stations in perpetuity, is linked with Switzerland-based millionaire record producer Robert "Mutt'' Lange.

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