Clutha River Outstanding Natural Feature Boundary Change

Minor changes have been made to the boundary of the Mata Au Clutha River Outstanding Natural Feature (ONF) in the Proposed District Plan (PDP). Outstanding Natural Features are landscapes that are significant to the District and have land use rules to protect their important values. 

The ONF boundary line is also the boundary for the proposed Clutha River ONF Priority Area, which forms part of the Upper Clutha Landscapes Schedules Variation. Because of the minor changes to the ONF boundary, changes have also been required to adjacent landscape boundaries.  The landscape areas involved are:

• East of Luggate

• Wānaka Airport Environs

• Kane Road and Luggate – Tarras Highway

• Hāwea Moraine

• Hāwea Terrace

• Crosshill

• Dublin Bay (Priority Area)

• Halliday Road (Priority Area)

• West of Hāwea River (Priority Area)

• Church Road Shortcut Road (Priority Area)

We encourage you to check whether these changes impact on your property, as depending on where the corrected boundary sits, part of your property could be within the ONF or the Rural Character Landscape category.  

As you may be aware, Council notified the Upper Clutha Landscape Schedules Variation to the PDP on Thursday 18 July 2024. The Variation proposed to introduce landscape schedules for one ONF Priority Area (the Clutha River) and 12 Rural Character Landscape areas, all within the Upper Clutha Basin.  

The purpose of landscape schedules are to outline the values of identified landscapes or landscape areas, the landscape capacity for certain activities within those areas, and generally provide additional clarity for consent and other applications within those areas.   

After the Upper Clutha Landscape Schedules Variation was notified, the Council discovered an error with the mapping of the Mata Au Clutha River ONF boundary, and mapping of the related Priority Area.  The mapping that was notified differed from the mapping confirmed by the Environment Court and required correction. 

Council recently notified the decision on the Priority Area Landscape Schedules Variation. The ONF boundary correction also results in some minor consequential boundary changes to landscapes that form part of this Variation.

The mapping has now been corrected, which has also resulted in some minor boundary changes to adjacent Rural Character Landscape areas mentioned above.

The Council will be seeking feedback on the mapping associated with the Upper Clutha Landscape Schedules Variation, which is proposed to be incorporated by reference into the Proposed District Plan.  

Later this month, a public notice will be shared in the Wānaka Sun, Otago Daily Times, Mountain Scene and on the Council website outlining when this feedback is open. Once this feedback period has closed and Council has considered any feedback received, the Upper Clutha Landscape Schedules Variation will be renotified for formal submissions.  

If you have any questions about the mapping or the Upper Clutha Landscape Schedules Variation, please call Daniel Hadfield on 03 441 0499 or email Daniel.Hadfield@qldc.govt.nz