Mountain Scene Poll

Queenstown’s massive Homestead Bay housing development has taken another step along the fast-track consenting process, with new documents revealing Australian-based RCL Group is planning 2800 homes on a site south of Jack’s Point, along with wastewater and transport solutions which it’s prepared to self-fund.

As Queenstown's council continues to grapple with the resort's wastewater woes, and looks to potentially establish a new council-controlled organisation to deal with Three Waters, plans for developments - including a proposal for 100 residential units and six commercial buildings on an unserviced site at Frankton - show no sign of slowing

Queenstown's councillors have been asked to resolve to ban all stallholders operating along a narrow strip in front of Lake Wakatipu due to the majority of traders contravening the duration of stay and separation requirements imposed under a 2023 bylaw, in spite of education and "low-level" enforcement action

Queenstown's council open to the idea of extending an existing Arrowtown community facility to provide consultation rooms for GPs, enabling the village to retain medical services after the Queenstown Medical Centre pulls out in September.

The cost of abiding by council regulations has forced the organisers of Arrowtown's Matariki celebrations to hand the event back to Arrowtown Preschool

Mountain Scene's revealed plans for a funicular - or cable railway - rising from Queenstown's One Mile roundabout towards Fernhill, Ben Lomond and Bowen Peak.  The fast-track consent application also includes retail and hospitality venues around the bottom terminal, chalet-style housing above Fernhill and possibly a skifield on Bowen Peak.

Since the High Court last year ruled Queenstown council's 2021 Freedom Camping Bylaw was invalid, this summer hordes of freedom campers are parking up by picturesque Lake Wakatipu, which they're using as a bath, while nearby reserves and bushes are being used as their loos - leaving dogs coming out covered in human faeces. 

In the wake of 'Carmageddon' hitting the Frankton-Ladies Mile Highway last week, an active transport advocate is encouraging Queenstown residents to share their car with family, neighbours or workmates at least once a week.

Planning is well advanced for a Southern Lakes base hospital in Queenstown, the building of which would be funded by private interests, then leased long-term to Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora, to help address the lack of a decent-sized, well-resourced public hospital in the fastest-growing district in the country.