Developer dismisses property concerns

Timsfield property developer Allan Dippie has dismissed concerns from several Lake Hawea "muck-in" contributors about the long-term future of the property leased by beloved community nanny Robyn Brent-Winder.

The Barnardos caregiver was given an extraordinary surprise last weekend when she returned from holiday to find her home had been given an $80,000 makeover, courtesy of the close-knit Hawea community.

Several "muck-in" committee members have expressed privately-held reservations to the Otago Daily Times about what will happen to Ms Brent-Winder's leasehold property.

There is some uncertainty among her local supporters as to the property's long-term ownership.

Ms Brent-Winder said she had "no concerns" about what would happen to her newly renovated home when her lease expired in six years.

Several individuals approached the ODT during her welcome-home party to discuss to discuss their concerns about Ms Brent-Winder's leasehold property.

Her Timsfield home is one of the old Ministry of Works houses, built to house workers employed to build the earth dam and storage gates at Lake Hawea in the 1950s.

The home, which she shares with her partner Grant Newall, is one of a dozen houses which are on leasehold properties.

These were signed over to Wanaka property development company Willowridge Ltd - a company owned by Allan Dippie - when the land was purchased in 2005.

Willowridge Ltd is developing the 460 lot Timsfield subdivision, where Ms Brent-Winder's home is located.

The ODT contacted Mr Dippie to put to him some of the concerns raised by members of the "muck-in" committee and others who had contributed.

Mr Dippie said there was no question of the leasehold properties being sold to anyone else "except the people who are already living in those homes".

Any suggestions that leasehold properties would be bulldozed to make way for new roads was "pure speculation".

"If people are saying that then they are totally misinformed," he said.

Willowridge was working towards making the leasehold properties available for freehold title.

This involved providing kerb and channelling, plus connecting the properties to the council's water reticulation and sewerage services, he said.

"We've been in close contact with nearly all of the people in those leasehold properties and are working towards enabling them to take freehold title.

Anyone who suggests otherwise is stirring," he said.

When the ODT visited yesterday, Ms Brent-Winder was back doing what she loves the most and surrounded by knee-high nippers.

"It took me about three days to come down from the surprise," she said.

She had only kind words for Mr Dippie, who kept in touch regularly about her lease and had sent her a $300 voucher to use at his recently opened Nichols megastore in Cromwell.

"Everything has just made such a difference," she said over a cup of coffee.

The Timsfield caregiver remains amazed at what her friends in the tight-knit Lake Hawea community have done for her.

"I still can't quite believe it. I'm just a normal nanny," she said.