Pervasive dust off gravel roads upsets residents oamarumail.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from oamarumail.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Doug Sail13:30, May 25 2021
DOUGLAS SAIL/Stuff
A lane of State Highway 83 is closed between Kurow and the Waitaki Dam as diggers work on burying an irrigation pipeline.
A contentious pipeline construction, criticised for impacting the scenic Waitaki River valley landscape, should be out of sight by the end of 2021. Work to hide the $45 million pipeline by burying it below State Highway 83 began in April and is on schedule to meet new resource consent conditions of completion by September 15, according to the Waitaki District Council. The construction issue flared in August 2019 when the council issued the Kurow-Duntroon Irrigation Company with an abatement notice because of a consents breach and in September 2019 about 50 residents met to discuss their concerns about the sight of the pipeline, claiming it should be below the ridge of the highway.
Fed up . . . Ahuriri ward councillor Ross McRobie says the Labour Weekend problems at Loch Laird are not fair on the Otematata community. PHOTO: KAYLA HODGE
Young people spending Labour Weekend at Loch Laird have always caused problems for the Otematata community, and now the district’s leaders have banded together to do something about it.
Workshops involving Ahuriri Community Board members, councillors, local police officers and Waitaki Mayor Gary Kircher started earlier this year to identify ways to reduce the issues.
Suggestions have included banning glass, installing lights, increasing security, bringing in food vendors and introducing tighter restrictions on alcohol.
As well as making it awkward for residents to figure out which rugby team to support, this also makes it difficult to promote as a tourist destination, with the district’s treasures often being filed under “South Canterbury”, “North Otago” or “Central Otago” – or worse, being mistaken for another district. “Recently there was an article printed in Australia which had [Ōmārama’s] Clay Cliffs and Hot Tubs as part of Mackenzie, which is not right,” Munro says.
Brook Sabin/Stuff
The famous hot tubs at Ōmārama. “When visitors come, they’ll look them up in ‘Mackenzie’ and won’t be able to find them there – because they’re not part of that district. It’s misleading information to the people that have got a genuine interest in finding out more.”