Plea to Key over Queenstown housing

Mountain Scene, an Allied Press publication, is calling for action over housing issues in Queenstown.

Mountain Scene editor David Williams said the themed edition (read it here) was a chance to pull stories together on an issue everyone in Queenstown was talking about.

‘‘The tension between the Government and the Queenstown Lakes District Council has increased in the past week so it's a chance to ask Prime Minister John Key if he thinks the council's doing a good job - and at what point he would be prepared to step in.'' 

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The council signed a housing accord with the Government to bring in special housing areas and tackle housing affordability. Yet house prices in the resort are at all-time highs. And at the first fast-tracked housing development, a yet-to-be-built three-bedroom house is on the market for $755,000.