A Queenstown Lakes District councillor and Luggate locals are calling for a change to the town’s divided rural delivery address (RD) which has been causing problems.
For many years, parts of the town have been recorded under Cromwell’s RD address while others have gone under Wānaka’s address.
As the town’s population increases, the divide is becoming more pressing.
Councillor Barry Bruce brought the issue up during the last Wanaka-Upper Clutha Community Board meeting, calling Luggate "the town of two halves" while outlining delivery and emergency service confusions.
"It’s confusing, I guess, to people who aren’t really familiar with the area, that are directing service providers or health providers to addresses," he said.
The issue was brought to his attention in a letter from Judy Thompson, the chairwoman of the Luggate Community Association.
One of the more serious confusions had been with health service co-ordination, where locals with Cromwell RD addresses would get referred to Cromwell or Alexandra.
As an example, Ms Thompson referred to one resident who had been getting ongoing intensive home support but found that many of his carers could not figure out where he lived due to his Cromwell RD address.
Mr Bruce said it had also caused issues with fire services, as brigades from Cromwell or further would be called rather than Wānaka, wasting time and resources.
Other issues included visitors booking accommodation with local providers thinking they would be closer to Cromwell, only to find out they were 40km away.
Ms Thompson recalled her own experience getting a washing machine fixed, when the repair person had come from Alexandra as her property also had a Cromwell RD address.
"Fortunately it was under guarantee, but if I’d been paying for that, it would have been two hours’ time, plus travel time," she said.
That had got her wondering how many more people had needed to deal with issues like that and much worse.
She has since been trying to shine a light on the division in an attempt to find an adequate solution.
Although some of the locals she had spoken to suggested Luggate should have its own RD address, Ms Thompson believes Luggate should be considered part of Wānaka.
"It’s just our natural community of interest. They don’t go down to school in Cromwell. Families work in town, for the majority, probably," she said.
Mr Bruce said his next step was to take this issue to local MP Miles Anderson and see what could be done.
