Statement for Press From Shotover Park Ltd

1. Shotover Park Ltd (SPL) has long maintained that the current development of the Five Mile site raises important matters of public interest, including the following:

(i) The application is in effect a de facto plan change as it does not comply with the district plan and seeks to change the structure plan for the zone. A district plan however can only be amended through a public process under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and cannot be determined, as is currently proposed, by a non-notified consent which prevents the community expressing their views.

(ii) The application will have adverse transportation effects which have not been addressed. The proposed design of Grant Road does not have capacity to accommodate traffic from the Five Mile development and the proposed PC19 development. The northern Frankton Flats transport network will be impacted.

(iii) The application seeks to use public recreation land (Queenstown Events Centre land) for car parking to service a private commercial development. It is important to retain as much public recreation land around the Queenstown Events Centre as possible.

2. SPL considers that the resource consent process relating to this site has lacked transparency. For example, council documents released to SPL at their request, indicate that an independent commissioner who favoured public notification of a previous application was removed from considering that application.

3. SPL has to date resisted lodging judicial review proceedings in the hope that Council would ensure that the matter be notified for public submissions before reaching a decision as to whether or not to grant consent. This has not happened and the recent decision continues a process of flawed decision making under the RMA. As a consequence, SPL has resolved to lodge judicial review proceedings in the High Court challenging the Council's decision making process. The Council and the applicant have been advised.

23 August 2012

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