A group of Upper Clutha environmentalists are calling for an independent commissioner to be taken off a resource consent hearing to be held in December.
The Upper Clutha Environmental Society has written a letter to the Queenstown Lakes District Council requesting Robert Nixon be replaced.
Mr Nixon has been appointed as one of the independent commissioners for the council’s hearing on the resource consent for a lakeside lodge on land owned by Gavin and Jacquetta George near Waterfall Creek in Wanaka.
A spokeswoman for the council said it would not respond to the letter through the media.
Mr Nixon was a commissioner on both the Wanaka Water Sport facility and the Hewetson Langbein Nominees resource consent hearings, earlier this year. Both consents were granted.
Environmental society secretary Julian Haworth said Mr Nixon’s track record from previous hearings gave the society no confidence he would accurately assess the effects the lodge would have on an outstanding natural landscape.
Asking for a commissioner to be removed was a serious request and the society had not done so lightly, Mr Haworth said.
"These are landscapes of national importance so you can’t just sit back and watch people wave through consents like this," he said.
Other groups in the Upper Clutha also felt Mr Nixon did not assess correctly the impact of development on natural landscapes.
"It’s a tricky job being a commissioner, no doubt, but these areas are protected under legislation and we think he isn’t doing his role to protect them," Mr Haworth said.
The society and neighbouring landowners oppose resource consent for the lodge. The hearing is scheduled to be held on December 2.
