Expert panel says no to Ladies Mile subdivision

A residential subdivision of hundreds of homes on Ladies Mile has failed to secure fast-track consent.

An expert consenting panel has declined to give go-ahead for the 15.6-hectare Flint’s Park (East) development.

Glenpanel Development Limited lodged the application for resource consents to be considered under the Covid-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 in August.

This is only the second application to be declined under the fast-track process.

The proposed housing development included a neighbourhood commercial centre at 427 Frankton-Ladies Mile Highway, and a renovation of the Glenpanel Homestead, plus visitor accommodation.

Fast-track consent for the Flint's Park subdivision on Queenstown's Ladies Mile entrance has been declined by an expert panel (Image EPA website/applicant's documents).

The panel says, while it accepts the project would have had benefits such as providing more housing and employment, it had to consider the zoning and planning for the Flint’s Park site and the statutory framework.

The panel assessed the adverse effects on the environment were "more than minor overall" and that the project was "contrary to an important set of objectives and policies in the Proposed District Plan".

Specifically, the panel had concerns the application site did not avoid urbanisation of rural land outside the urban growth boundary, nor did it protect the landscape values of outstanding natural features - in this case, Slope Hill, part of the project location.

The decision comes 78 working days after the project was lodged with the Environmental Protection Authority.

The Queenstown Lakes District Council's earmarked Ladies Mile as a prime spot to house the district’s inevitable future growth, as long as transport issues are ironed out.

More houses along Ladies Mile will mean more people in cars turning out onto the state highway, and that concerns the Minister of Transport.

It's developed a masterplan for how that development should go, which was unanimously adopted by councillors in July after community consultation.

In it's submission on the fast-track consent, the council had asked the expert panel to assess the Flint's Park proposal in terms of its compliance with the masterplan.

The Minister of Transport and Waka Kotahi had also cautioned the decision makers of the effect "ad-hoc" residential development along Ladies Mile could have on traffic congestion on an already maxed-out highway.