An Environment Court appeal over the route for part of stage two of the Around the Mountains cycle trail is proving costly for both parties.
The 175km trail will eventually go from Kingston to Walter Peak Station, on the shores of Lake Wakatipu. Stage one is finished and work has begun on stage two.
The Southland District Council (SDC) has resource consent to build about 30km of the trail through the Oreti Valley, but Fish & Game has appealed because the route would take cyclists past an internationally recognised brown trout fishery. It wants the trail to follow the neighbouring Mararoa Valley.
The appeal will begin in Invercargill on Monday and continue for at least a week. Another week has also been scheduled from March 7.
SDC assets and services group manager Ian Marshall said the SDC had so far spent ‘‘well in excess of $1million'' on consents and the appeal.
Fish & Game communications manager Don Rood said while costs had yet to be finalised, the case had cost the organisation ‘‘close to $200,000'' so far.
The appeal was ‘‘frustrating'', Mr Marshall said.
‘‘It adds such a long time frame to the [construction] job, and to the costs.''
He said most of the trail had been completed - from Kingston to Centre Hill Rd, northwest of Mossburn, and from Walter Peak to the Mavora Lakes.
The SDC would call 11 witnesses including himself, he said. They included a range of experts in fields such as ecology, amenity, landscape, construction, plus an economist.
Mr Rood said Fish & Game was calling ‘‘respected academics and experts'' including professors of tourism and botany and experts in engineering and angling amenity values.
The appeal was being funded from the sale of Fish & Game licences, he said.
‘‘Anglers and hunters are paying to protect something of great environmental, scenic and tourism value for the general public and future generations.''
Mr Rood called the proposed route ‘‘short-sighted''.
‘‘[We have] been left with no choice but to continue the appeal because the SDC's proposal will ruin the wilderness back-country experience that the Oreti is nationally and internationally famous for, when there is a ready and viable alternative.
‘‘This alternative would be as attractive to cyclists, cheaper to build and maintain and provide better links to Te Anau, all without destroying one of Southland's valued wild places.''
Fish & Game was not opposed to a cycleway, Mr Rood said.
‘‘What Fish & Game does oppose is the senseless sacrificing of an existing, profitable and environmentally sensitive tourism attraction for one that is designed to provide money to Queenstown, not Southland,'' Mr Rood said.
The SDC received a government grant of $4 million for the trail on the understanding it would be completed by the end of last year.
Mr Marshall said he had been keeping Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment staff informed about the delay and they were ‘‘comfortable'' with it.
