Crux podcast: Deputy mayor wants change in QLDC decision making

In the latest Crux podcast Deputy QLDC mayor Quentin Smith calls for elected members to be involved in more of the council's projects and ideas at an earlier stage.

He believes that most of the projects being funded by council have come from QLDC managers and not from councillors. He wants to see a change where councillors not only get to originate and select QLDC projects but where they get consulted on those projects at a much earlier stage.

Otherwise he says there's less room for councillor and community involvement in the decision making process.

Deputy mayor Smith also talks about the possibility of Wānaka eventually becoming as big, or bigger than Queenstown and the delicate balance of power between the two towns in terms of council funding and representation.

In the top stories of the week Lauren Pattemore details how an endangered crested grebe, the "bird of the century", has died as the direct result of plastic pollution in Lake Wānaka and her interview with Queenstown Chamber of Commerce Sharon Fifield on a tough few months for businesses where sales have dropped by up to 30%.