The Queenstown Lakes District Council has put its foot down concerning a request from a developer of a subdivision asking for a private road to be vested in the council and incorporated into public road maintenance.
At the council's infrastructure services committee meeting last week Queenstown Lakes Mayor Vanessa van Uden argued there was ''only a private benefit'' from the request and asked ''where do we stop?'', as the private road did not meet the council's standard for public roads.
The road, proposed by Albatross QT Ltd, does not meet the council's gradient and width standards.
The road is to service a subdivision known as Potters Hill, off Frankton Rd. Albatross QT Ltd has consent for the subdivision and the company was seeking a variation to that consent.
Albatross representative Chris Hansen spoke during the meeting's public forum and confirmed 260m of the road was considered too steep for the council's standards and 30m-40m was less than legal width.
Councillors were concerned that the road could be well-maintained in the beginning but when it came time for it to be resealed, the council could be asked to foot the bill for a road which did not meet standards.
Committee chairman Lyal Cocks said the council was going about private roading ''very ad hoc'' and subsequently ''leaving ourselves open for some controversy about how we are making decisions''.
John Mann was firm in saying, ''I don't think the community is the welfare agency for developers who underdevelop their development''.
