“We will pump the brakes on fast-track.” Those words from Queenstown-based Labour Party candidate Peter McDonald, who says “I think there is a necessity for critical infrastructure with the fast-track process, but housing is a bit different”. “I’m not saying we don’t need it, but my concern is the way the fast-track process is constructed is every application is in isolation, so every [expert] panel is different. “I’m worried about the cumulative effect of each project pancaking on top of each other and adding to this overwhelming nature. “I think there’s housing projects across the Queenstown-Lakes area that would deliver greater than 8200 extra homes, and that equates to, just off memory, above 50,000 extra car movements per day than we have now. “So if people think we’re failing now, the future doesn’t look [good] under this experiment that the government is overlaying over our town.” McDonald acknowledges the former Labour government put in earlier fast-track legislation as a response to Covid-19. “It was designed to be a temporary one, but what Labour will do is it’ll put an environmental test back into the process or a stronger environmental test. “And it’ll put a community voice back in because, by excluding the councils, which is basically what’s happened, you’re excluding the community voice.” Traffic congestion, McDonald says, has locals “starting to question their future living here”. He also suggests it’s slowing down business. “The other day I was in front of a big concrete truck just waiting in the gridlock traffic, and there’s probably three concrete pumps waiting on site for that truck to get there.” But he says the issue also risks the resort’s tourism reputation. “Because of the success of this town, it’s a shop window that the rest of the world look into, and they see the wonderful things about us — great. “But they will also be able to look in and see our failures, and I’m really worried that our failures will be put on a national and an international stage, soon, if we don’t turn the corner on these big problems.” On congestion, McDonald is calling for “maybe a mayoral taskforce to bring these decision-making agencies together in a more coordinated way”. “People are actually talking about a range of solutions, which is really good, because we need to do everything — we need to start on this stuff now. “And we’ve always looked at the lake as the problem for transportation, and it’s closed up our corridors, maybe we need to look at it as the opportunity.” In light of housing growth along the southern corridor to as far as Kingston, plus the airport increasing capacity, McDonald is querying whether the new BP signalised intersection, replacing the current roundabout, won’t be redundant by the time it’s finished. “An argument could be made that that transport hub has failed now. “That’s quite extreme to say that, but that really highlights the overwhelming growth of this town. “Underlying all this, I think this town needs a champion in government. “And that’s what I’m going for, to win this election [for the Southland seat] and be that person that lives here and champions its cause.” Local MP Joseph Mooney on Queenstown issues, page 25. scoop@scene.co.nz
