Heath Copland

Q1 It is well known that one of the key contributors to the historic issues with Lake Hayes water quality has been from upstream land development. What is your position on intensification in the Lake Hayes catchment area?

All developments have an effect on downstream catchments, so any development anywhere must have appropriate mitigations to control wastewater and storm water runoff.  If the infrastructure is well planned and built accordingly, and development is done in a sympathetic manner for the area and environment I am not against intensification in the Lake Hayes catchment area.

Q2a Do you consider the current Coronet Village Fast-Track application that includes 780 residences positive or negative?

Both Positive and Negative.

Q2b Why do you say that?

From my understanding of the application here are some positive aspects - housing supply in our district that is severely lacking enough houses, more education options, environmentally friendly access to Coronet Peak.  There are also some potentially negative aspects also - I'm not across the scientific data on how development will impact the lake catchment (and am not aware of the infrastructure plans to mitigate any impacts), I am not across the traffic impacts, and don't know about the type of homes that are planned nor if they are appropriate for that area, and the growing population.  The total number of homes proposed may not be appropriate either.

Q3 What infrastructure would you like to see in place to address our traffic and sewerage issues in Queenstown? Please provide specific examples.

With regards to traffic we have congestion issues (at peak times) and aging road infrastructure.  I don't think there is one silver bullet solution to resolve these issues, but increased, better public transport networks would help reduce the number of cars on the road.  I like the proposed commuter gondola project being developed by Southern Infrastructure to reduce reliance on the roading network.  Modal shift to biking and walking is a good initiative but there are challenges given our geographical spread and climate.  The location of the population in relation to where they live compared to where they work, go to school and play is really important to enable better public transport and modal shift as well.

With regards to the sewerage issues, we have fallen behind in our wastewater infrastructure investment.  This is partially due to the growth in our district and the rising costs of building infrastructure.   There must be a better, more cost-effective way to build the infrastructure required to keep up with growth, and the council needs to be better at controlling costs related to these networks, as well as adopting innovation where possible to increase supply without significant rates rises.  Costs should be passed on where possible to developers and central government funding through the proposed regional deal will assist with this.