Four key Plan Changes, notified last year, sparked an enormous response from the Queenstown Lakes District community and were still being processed, QLDC planning and strategy manager Vicki Jones said.

Plan Changes 6, 7, 8 and 10 address the issues of access widths, residential flats, car parking and amenity in high residential zones.

"All were matters identified by the community in the Council's community plan and 2020 workshops," she said.

Due to the potential for all residents and ratepayers to be effected by the Plan Changes, the Council distributed a summary of each Plan Change to every household in the district.

"Submissions closed in December with nearly 9000 individual points of relief requested. This incredible level of interest and the range of views expressed in the submissions indicate the importance of the issues being considered and the depth of feeling amongst the community", Ms Jones said.

The Council was now summarising all the decisions that have been requested by submitters and these will then be notified and people will be invited to lodge further submissions (to express their support or opposition to the submissions that have been lodged).

"With such a big response it can be a lengthy process but it has to be thorough and at the end of the day, robust.  We hope to notify the summary in April and anyone can make further submissions, either in support or opposition to any original submission," Ms Jones said.

Meanwhile, submissions and further submissions have been received for Plan Changes relating to Farm Buildings on Outstanding Natural Features, the Definition of Ground Level, and Heritage items.  Submissions of these Plan Changes will occur within the next four months.  Anyone that had made a submission on those Plan Changes andwishes to be heard would be notified of hearing dates at least one month before the hearing.

ENDS

For further information please contact Vicki Jones 03 441 0499

By: Sarah