Ladies Mile Masterplan
A Council-led Masterplan for the Te Putahi Ladies Mile area was adopted on 30 June 2022 as a way of ensuring a holistic approach to planning for this growing area of the Whakatipu Basin. A District Plan Variation is expected to be notified soon.
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What's the latest?
Councillors adopted a revised Te Pūtahi Ladies Mile Masterplan on 30 June 2022, and approved notification to begin for changes to the land use rules in the Proposed District Plan, to enable its implementation.
Council’s intent to proactively plan for the Te Pūtahi Ladies Mile area has been extensively signalled and debated publicly since May 2019.
Council adopted a Masterplan for the area in October 2021, however requested that a number of matters be given further consideration.
The key changes made to the final Te Pūtahi Ladies Mile Masterplan and proposed planning provisions include:
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The centralised stormwater system has been removed from the Masterplan. In its place, landowners and developers will need to demonstrate how they will manage stormwater on their sites, similar to how any development within a newly zoned area are required to deal with stormwater. Specific plan provisions have been developed to support good stormwater management that includes no discharge to Lake Hayes and high levels of treatment and attenuation of stormwater to ground within the site.
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As a result of removing the centralised stormwater management system, the final Masterplan includes a centrally located community park of approximately 2 hectares and two local parks of approximately 3000m2 each.
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Whilst the density of 40 units per hectare has been retained in the medium density precincts, the 70 units per hectare in the high-density residential precinct has been reduced to 60 units per hectare. This lower density reduces the number of apartment buildings required to meet the density requirements. Noting that the zone still requires a mixture of housing typologies, sizes and affordability that would support public transport, commercial activity and community facilities for the area.
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The proposed plan provisions include policies and assessment matters encouraging the use of indigenous vegetation, and those species preferred by indigenous birds.
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The proposed plan provisions include a sub area staging plan and specific transport objectives and policies to ensure transport improvements are constructed before any development is complete.
Councillors also agreed to authorise officers to make an application to the Minister for the Environment to notify the Te Pūtahi Ladies Mile Zone Provisions using the Streamlined Planning Process (SPP), as an alternative to the standard Schedule 1 Process under the Resource Management Act 1991. As part of this application, officers will include a procedural request to include a full public notification process and hearing before an independent hearing panel with relevant expertise to consider areas of concern.
An announcement on the status of this application and next steps will be made in due course.
About the project
The Ladies Mile (Te Putahi) Corridor between Shotover River (Kimi-ākau) and Lake Hayes (Te
Whaka-ata a Haki-te-kura) is an area of significance for many locals, often seen as a gateway into Queenstown. It is also an area of major strategic importance for Queenstown and the wider
lakes district.
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The Masterplan will cover approximately 160 Ha. Located at a key point in the road, trail and river networks, it is largely flat, sunny and hazard free, it is close to the major employment area of Frankton and adjoins Queenstown’s largest residential area of Lake Hayes Estate, Shotover Country and the Queenstown Country Club.
The area marked in blue below is the key focus area, however there is a much wider area of influence that must be considered to ensure the Masterplan and Plan Variation delivers the best outcomes for the community.
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Ladies Mile is a very attractive location for urban development but there are a number of challenges that need to be addressed and considered through the Masterplan and Plan Variation process:
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It is an area of significant interest to many locals and considered by some to be the ‘rural gateway’ to Queenstown, demarking the rural and urban areas of the Wakatipu Basin.
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Setting development back from SH6 has been a key consideration shaping development of this area to date.
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There are capacity issues along the State Highway corridor that runs through Ladies Mile, in particular the Shotover Bridge and the Hawthorne Drive and Shotover Roundabouts.
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Residents currently living in the area also have concerns over parking, lack of community facilities in the area.
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There are also concerns around community severance resulting in a lack of cohesion between the three housing developments requiring residents to carry out multiple external trips to carry out everyday tasks.
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This area has seen significant change and debate over its future since the 1990s. This timeline shows some of the key decisions that have led us to this point.
There are a number of documents available that further details or provide context for the decisions outlined above
CloseAppendices for Housing Infrastructure Fund – DBC – Ladies Mile
Project aspirations and goals
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Make the most of the opportunity to deliver highly efficient land use. This will include medium - medium/high density urban development.
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Plan a high quality street network that promotes walking and cycling as the preferred way of getting around locally and a range of transport options for getting to Frankton and further afield.
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Provide a framework through the masterplan process to inform decisions on a large range of potential land uses at Ladies Mile including housing, a mixed use local service centre, recreation and sports grounds, primary and secondary schools and a transport facilities.
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Promote a strong sense of ‘place’ and ‘identity’, taking inspiration from the landscape. This should also include high levels of liveability through quality urban design.
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Celebrate the areas pioneer and Maori history in public spaces and with distinctive built form.
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Promote sustainable living, for example better outcomes for water quality and ecological systems, use of green technology, more transport choices that prioritise walking, cycling and public transport.
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The objectives of the project are :
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A land use solution is delivered in a timely, integrated and organised manner, avoiding individual applications
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Increased liveability, well-being and community cohesion for existing and future residents of the Ladies Mile area
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Improved access to and from Ladies Mile with a transport network that can deliver its functions efficiently and effectively
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Supporting enhanced public transport and walking and cycling options through land use solutions
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Our approach
We've appointed a project team who will approach the process in three key stages:
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This is the listening phase. It's where the project team will gather information, talk with stakeholders and get a full understanding of the opportunities and constraints of the site.
Having a thorough understanding of the history of the area and related workstreams and business cases will ensure that the key issues are already well-understood, and do not need to be re-canvassed.
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This involves exploring and testing spatial design options, developing design principles and engaging closely with stakeholders and the community.
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At this point the project team will work through all feedback, refine the options into a Masterplan and prepare the associated District Plan variation documents.
Community engagement will form an important part of developing the plan. Here's what to expect:
Dates
Description of work
Engagement with:
Early August – end September 2020
Introductions, overview of project and visioning exercises undertaken with landowners and stakeholders.
Following the above the LMC team begin to workshop draft vision and design material
Landowners, QLDC staff and stakeholders such as: Way to Go management team, NTZA (partner), Iwi (Partner), Central Government ministries and agencies, Lake Hayes Estate & Shotover Country Community Association, Queenstown Trail Trust
October 2020
Development and finalisation of consultation material
Council workshop followed by specific workshops with landowners, key stakeholders (as above).
November 2020
Public Open days
All public
April 2021
Draft masterplan and planning provisions ready for notification
Council meeting
April / May 2021
Notification period of masterplan and planning provisions
All public
July 2021
Adoption of masterplan and supporting documentation. Including approval of application to the Minister for a Streamlined Planning Process
Council meeting
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Consultation and Feedback
In August 2020 a consultant team was engaged by Council, and a Project Working Group, Project Control Group and Political Sounding Board were set up to oversee the development of the project. From August to November, consultation with affected landowners and stakeholders was undertaken to inform the development of a number of draft Masterplan options.
Over four days in November 2020, three options were made available to the public for their input via an online survey and through two public open day sessions held at Shotover Primary School.
The feedback received from this initial round of consultation identified traffic congestion as one of the main concerns of the community. Following a Council-held public meeting on this issue in January 2021, further traffic modelling was commissioned in early 2021.
In March 2021, Council resolved to notify a draft Masterplan, draft Transport Strategy and accompanying draft plan variation for non-statutory public consultation in April 2021. The consultation period ran for 20 working days.
The results of the community consultation period focused heavily on traffic congestion and the majority were in opposition to the draft Masterplan. At a Council meeting on 29 July 2021, Council directed that further work be undertaken on the plan provisions and other methods to consider a staged zoning approach that restricted development until the necessary transport interventions are confirmed.
Since then, the Masterplan and draft planning provisions have been revised and a final masterplan was adopted on 30 June 2022.
Formal consultation on the draft Planning Provisions will occur later in 2022.
Links to feedback received
Public open day feedback summary
Thanks to everyone who came along to our open days in November.
Community Q&A
There were lots of interesting questions raised at a recent community info session. We've provided answers to the questions - click on the link below to read more.
Need more info?
If you have any questions about the project, please get in touch.