An easement over part of a proposed cycle and walking trail that will loop through and around Bannockburn may be granted as part of a "contra deal" involving the Central Otago District Council.
The Cromwell Community Board yesterday considered a request by the Bannockburn Outdoor Education Camp Trust to grant an easement over part of the proposed track for a sewage pipeline, to connect the camp with the Bannockburn sewerage scheme.
Council property officer Brian Taylor said the council had negotiated an exchange of land at Bannockburn to provide walking track access between Lynn Lane, off Hall Rd and Schoolhouse Rd. The proposed Bannockburn Loop track would go through and around the village.
The survey plan was with LINZ and once certified, the exchange would be gazetted as recreation reserve. Some of the proposed walkway would be over that land but the balance would cross through the adjoining property - the site of the former Bannockburn School, taken over by the outdoor education trust, which uses the facility as a camp site.
The trustees wanted to upgrade the camp's sewage disposal system by replacing a septic tank with a piped connection to the Bannockburn scheme, laying the pipeline along the walking track to Hall Rd. The trust would need an easement to do that and as the camp trustees had been happy to grant the council an access easement through the camp grounds, it was only fair, as part of a "contra deal", for the council to return the favour, Mr Taylor said.
The board has recommended the council grant an easement for the pipeline, subject to confirmation the Bannockburn scheme can cater for the extra demand.
Bannockburn hall: The Bannockburn community has approved the floor plan and one of the two options for the exterior look of its new town hall.
The new town hall will replace the century-old Coronation Hall, deemed quake-unstable and closed last year.
