Concerns raised Wanaka is losing out to Queenstown

More concerns have been raised that Queenstown is being unfairly favoured for council investment over Wanaka.

Active Transport Wanaka spokesman Simon Telfer has joined the debate over a lack of investment in the Upper Clutha area, saying the vision of a network of protected cycleways in Wanaka had been "kicked down the road".

He said three years ago the Queenstown Lakes District Council promised "your turn will be next" to receive meaningful investment.

But now stage one of a separated Wanaka cycleway network had been delayed until 2027.

"The real risk is that the next planning cycle in three years’ time will move the goalposts again," Mr Telfer said.

Forty-three percent of all submissions received during the last long-term plan consultation process in 2018 related to a comprehensive cycling and walking network.

The only cycle infrastructure fully delivered in Wanaka over the past three years was the State Highway 84 underpass, Mr Telfer said.

At a full council meeting in Queenstown earlier this month, Wanaka ward councillor Quentin Smith said the capital investment proposed in the 10-year plan was heavily weighted towards Queenstown and would be "a death knell for the Upper Clutha".

He admitted "death knell" was not the right choice of words but stood by his intent.

"This isn’t a Queenstown versus Wanaka debate, there is no question the challenges are equal if not greater in the Wakatipu.

"I have been proactive in supporting the necessary programmes in the Wakatipu, but we can’t just sit by without addressing our challenges also," Cr Smith said.

The 10-year plan was based largely on the projections of significant growth for the Wanaka ward; 68% growth over that period from 15,932 to 26,772 average day population, with peak days about double those numbers.

"There is a real challenge on our hands and we can’t get everything we want, but I just don’t accept that what we are doing is enough to cope with a 68% increase in population over that period," Cr Smith said.

Wanaka ward councillor Niamh Shaw said she opposed the draft consultation document because the starting point was untenable.

"We have this old trope that we need to kick-start the economy. Well, it would have been really nice if we could have kick-started the economy with projects that were more appropriate to a Covid world and the growing risks associated with climate change," Cr Shaw said.

Fellow Wanaka councillor and deputy mayor Calum Macleod agreed the 10-year plan was skewed towards Queenstown, but said it was because one of the bigger infrastructure projects was a shovel-ready project that came with a large subsidy from central government.

Cr Macleod said the draft 10-year plan could always be changed and it would also be reviewed in three years.

Submissions on the 10-year plan run until April 19 and public hearings will be held in Queenstown and Wanaka on May 10 and 11.

kerrie.waterworth@odt.co.nz