Ziptrek breaches on Bob's Peak alleged

Trent Yeo.
Trent Yeo.
The Queenstown Lakes District Council is to investigate Ziptrek over alleged breaches of its resource consent.

The company takes customers on zipline ''eco-adventures'' through the forest canopy on Bob's Peak.

Council regulatory manager Lee Webster said the investigation would begin within the next two weeks and would include options for enforcement.

The alleged breaches came to light during a four-day Environment Court hearing in Queenstown last week, on Skyline Enterprises Ltd's direct referral for its $100 million-plus redevelopment.

Skyline counsel Graeme Todd raised several issues with Ziptrek's operation, which appeared to contravene its original resource consent.

Its consent stated it had to operate in accordance with the approved plans. Had Ziptrek complied, some of its concerns about Skyline's proposal would be nullified.

Ziptrek counsel Dr Royden Somerville QC said earlier in the week the company, while not opposed to the Skyline proposal, had concerns with aspects of it.

Concerns included Skyline's failure to underground a power line, which created a ''high'' fire hazard and the potential impacts of construction noise on its clients, particularly during the critical safety briefing period for Ziptrek guests before they began their tour.

In his opening submissions, Dr Somerville said Skyline's proposed four-year construction period would have a ''significant adverse social and economic effect on Ziptrek's business''.

''The construction site is adjacent to the Ziptrek eco-tourism operation and the access road to be used for transporting materials to the construction site is adjacent to the first zipline and the main entrance where clients are marshalled and safety briefings are given.''

On the final day of the hearing, Ziptrek executive director Trent Yeo gave evidence, via Skype, from the United Kingdom.

Mr Yeo said 95% of the 30,000 guests his company hosted each year accessed the site using the gondola. The remainder walked up the ''Tiki Trail'', either from the bottom of the gondola, or One Mile.

Those who came up on the gondola exited the terminal and went left, arriving at the top tree house, where they were briefed and then completed their tours.

The company offered two tours - a six-line option, taking guests from the top tree house to the bottom of the hill, and a four-line option which started at the tree house and at the end of the fourth line ''they walk back up again along that road ... finish their tour and usually go down via Skyline''.

Mr Yeo confirmed, when asked by Mr Todd, the company had not built the 120m trail and it gave safety briefings at the tree house, not near Skyline's terminal.

He could not immediately point to any consent granting approval for guests or staff to use the access road.

With regard to the undergrounding of power lines, he believed an approved variation, relating to zipline 6, had removed that requirement.

tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz

 

Comments

Its amazing, how that organisations like the QLDC can just breeze through oversight after oversight with a simple halfhearted apologies or quoting obscure bylaws, lack of internal miscommunication.Yet, when a small business makes a simple honest oversight that really affects no one, then QLDC delights in holding their feet to the fire. Why does the QLDC not take some of their new found fire and brimstone approach to dealing with longstanding real problems like Freedom Camping?

 

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