QLDC receives 354 submissions on controversial McDonald's

The Queenstown Lakes District Council is sorting through hundreds of submissions on McDonald's controversial bid for a restaurant in Wānaka.

At the request of the fast food chain, members of the public were invited to have their say on plans for a 24 hours a day, seven day a week restaurant in the town.

The window for submissions closed on Friday and documents made public by the council show 354 submissions have been received - the vast majority of them from individual members of the public.

The New Zealand Transport Agency (neutral), Wastebusters and Plastic Free Wānaka (opposed) and the Upper Clutha Environmental Society (opposed) were some of the only collective groups to have a say.

A spokesperson for the council says an exact date on when any decision will be delivered is unknown at this stage.

It is expected hearing commissioners will be appointed to ultimately make the call.

The spokesperson says in terms of next steps council staff are now reviewing the submissions received and will be seeking any further information from McDonald's in response to them, before preparing a recommending report.

McDonald's is seeking go-ahead for a single-storey, 445-square-metre building on the Wānaka-Luggate road, adjacent to the new roundabout where State Highway Six makes a turn towards Lake Hāwea and the West Coast.

It would be part of a new development called Mount Iron Junction.

McDonald's has already received approval from the Overseas Investment Office to buy land at Mount Iron Junction.

In its application to the investment office, the company says it is working towards opening a restaurant there by 2026.

However the proposal is a controversial one in the town, and an online petition against it organised by Wānaka resident Sarah Morrison has attracted close to 5,500 signatories.

All submissions regarding McDonald's consent application are available via council's eDocs under consent reference RM230874.

Main image (QLDC/eDocs/Rough Milne Mitchell Landscape Architects): Visual simulations supplied by a landscape architect in supporting documents to McDonald's resource consent application for it proposed Wānaka restaurant.