The building of a house near Mitchells Cottage at Fruitlands has been allowed to continue despite its owners' admission of breaching consent conditions.
Ian and Kirsten Knights were served an abatement notice by the Central Otago District Council to stop building their partly constructed house, which can be seen from the tourist attraction.
The Knights, when they appeared at a council hearing on October 28, admitted they breached conditions of their resource consent.
They told the hearing panel the breach, which related to inadequate screening of the property from Mitchells Cottage, was accidental.
They applied for conditions of consent to be changed to allow the construction of the house, as well as for retrospective consent for earthworks already undertaken.
The council yesterday released its decision on the application, granting both requests.
Council planning consultant David Whitney had recommended the application be granted.
The final decision included changed conditions of consent, with all other conditions of initial consent to continue to be adhered to.
It stated that although the dwelling would be partly visible from Mitchells Cottage, any adverse effects would be able to be mitigated through the conditions of consent.
In 2006, Checkford Investments Ltd was granted land use consent to build on Symes Rd, after which the company sold a section to Mr and Mrs Knights.
The Department of Conservation, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust, and Central Otago Environmental Society opposed the application.
They said granting the application would create a precedent for landowners to build in breach of consent, and later have those conditions amended.
