Source: Environmental Protection Authority
30 November 2022
An expert consenting panel has declined to grant fast-track consent for a 15.6-hectare subdivision on the Frankton-Ladies Mile Highway near Queenstown.
Glenpanel Development Limited lodged the application for resource consents to be considered under the COVID-19 Recovery (Fast-track Consenting) Act 2020 on 10 August this year.
The proposed housing development included a neighbourhood commercial centre at 427 Frankton-Ladies Mile Highway.
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”. These include:
- Avoiding the urbanisation of rural land outside the urban growth boundary, such as the application site
- Protecting the landscape values of outstanding natural features, such as Slope Hill, part of the project location
You can read the full grounds for the panel’s decision to decline the application in the decision document below.
The decision comes 78 working days after the project was lodged with the Environmental Protection Authority.
This is only the second application declined under the fast-track process.
The Environmental Protection Authority is not involved in the decision-making. We provide advice and administrative support for the panel convener, Judge Laurie Newhook, and the expert consenting panels he appoints.
