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Mountain Scene
July 10, 2021
By PHILIP CHANDLER
Thirty-two years after trying to stop its borough council from being forcibly amalgamated
with Queenstown Lakes District Council, Jim Ryan was battling again for Arrowtown’s independence at a meeting on Monday last week.
He was amongst townspeople fighting against an advisory group’s recommendation Arrowtown lose its council seat.
‘‘Well, here we go again,’’ he told former councillor/museum director David Clarke as he arrived at Arrowtown’s Lakes District Museum.
In the boardroom, his last words before he suddenly died were, ‘‘well, this must be important to get me out of bed this early on a winter’s morning’’.
Mountain Scene
July 1, 2021
Into the fray: New Queenstown councillor Esther Whitehead reads the oath at her swearing-in ceremony yesterday as mayor Jim Boult looks on. Whitehead, a social activist and self-employed consultant, won the seat in a by-election three weeks ago after the previous incumbent, John MacDonald, resigned for health reasons. PICTURE: QLDC
By MARJORIE COOK
QUEENSTOWN Lakes Mayor Jim Boult used his casting vote yesterday to get Arrowtown councillor Heath Copland’s motion for four electoral wards over the line for public consultation.
Five councillors supported consulting on a single-seat Arrowtown ward, alongside the proposed new Whakatipu (4 seats), Kawarau (3 seats) and Wanaka-Hawea wards (4 seats).
Arrowtown s kick in the teeth scene.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from scene.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Reidhaven carve-up concerns
By PHILIP CHANDLER
Neighbours of an 1866 Arrowtown cottage listed for sale fear a buyer will carve up its heritage orchard for intensive housing.
Reidhaven last occupied by Arrowtown’s last mayor, the late Jack Reid, and previously is father and grandfather, who were also mayors also includes about a dozen fruit trees dating back about 120 years.
While Reid was still alive, the property was bought by Irish billionaire, the late Eamon Cleary, and is nowadays owned by his family trust.
In recent times, this trust’s developed Three Mayors Ridge, comprising 12 house lots, just above Reidhaven.
Reidhaven neighbours Nadine Conway and Marion Botherway claim the council allowed this subdivision to be far denser than its ‘residential historic management’ zoning allows, and fear it’s a precedent for developing the orchard.