Allandale/Greenvale Tenure Review Proposal Strikes Balance

Lakeside landscapes, public access and biodiversity values on two pastoral lease properties at the south-western end of Lake Wakatipu are recommended for permanent protection in a tenure review proposal being advertised for public comment this weekend.

"The preliminary proposal for the Allandale and Greenvale leases meets tenure review and government high country objectives and is in accord with recent Government policy aimed at protecting lakeside landscapes from inappropriate development," says Brian Usherwood, Land Information New Zealand's General Manager Business Support.

"The proposal strikes a balance between the protection of significant landscapes, public access and other values, and the farming of productive land," Brian Usherwood says.

Under the proposal, about 7000 hectares of the 8709 hectares under review is to be permanently protected. It includes a 6505 hectare conservation area to be managed by the Department of Conservation which would link Lake Wakatipu with the Eyre Mountains (Taka Ra Haka) Conservation Park, open up public access, and protect important biodiversity values.

The conservation area includes all of the property's 7 kilometre-long lakeside frontage which rises to the skyline and summit of Mt Dick (1805m) in the Eyre Mountains.

A further 549 hectares of conservation covenants is proposed for land to be freeholded, protecting Maori archaeological sites, significant landscapes and threatened native fish habitat. In all, 2204 hectares of productive land capable of economic use is proposed for freeholding.

"The southern Lake Wakatipu area is considered to be of international importance as the gateway to the Southern Lakes region and the Wakatipu Basin," Brian Usherwood says.

The preliminary proposal will be formally advertised on 8 December 2007. The public submission period closes on 26 February 2008.

Full details of the proposal are available on LINZ's website: www.linz.govt.nz

Background

Allandale/Greenvale is one of 65 lakeside properties identified in November 2007 as being excluded from tenure review unless certain conditions are met - including lakeside land being retained by the Crown, or the lessee accepting restrictions on the land's future use and development. The preliminary proposal for the Allandale/Greenvale review is proceeding because these conditions have been met.

Tenure review of a pastoral lease is a voluntary negotiation between the Crown and the leaseholder that results in the transfer of some land with significant biodiversity, recreation, historic and public access values to the Department of Conservation, and the freeholding of some land capable of productive use to the lessee.

After a lessee invites the Crown to conduct a tenure review, a preliminary proposal is developed in consultation with the leaseholder, Department of Conservation, Fish and Game and iwi. The Minister for Land Information is also consulted.

The preliminary proposal is then opened for public consultation. Once public submissions are considered, a final 'substantive' proposal is developed. The Minister for Land Information is consulted again before the proposal is put to a lessee. Final decisions on a review are made by the Commissioner of Crown Lands.

Before any tenure review proposal can proceed, approval is sought from the Ministerial Group which ensures the wider national interest is considered when government departments, state-owned enterprises and Crown entities intend to dispose of Crown land. Funding approval for the review is then sought in principle from the Minister for Land Information at the preliminary proposal stage, and confirmed at the substantive proposal stage.

ENDS

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