Protect Wanaka

Greetings from the team at the Wanaka Stakeholder Group Incorporated. Kia ora koutou.

Update from June 2020:

In 2018 Queenstown Lakes District Council decided to give Queenstown Airport Corporation a long term lease on Wanaka Airport. The terms of the lease were only made public in late 2019 when it was revealed that the lease would endure for 100 years, and included no guarantees for local community input. This amounts to ownership of a strategic Wanaka asset.

Over the last two years QAC has announced plans for significant jet-capable development at Wanaka Airport and, despite the impact on tourism and aviation of COVID-19, they show no signs of significantly changing their trajectory.

The Wanaka Stakeholders Group has initiated legal proceedings to obtain a Judicial Review examining the process and validity of the lease. This will give Wanaka the chance to wind back the clock. If QAC “ownership” of Wanaka Airport was overturned, the Upper Clutha Community could then be genuinely consulted on the future of its airport, with assurances that the terms of any airport lease or contract include Wanaka community accountability and local input into airport governance.

Over three thousand Upper Clutha residents and ratepayers have joined WSG. Many of you have asked, “what else can we do?” There are many things but right now we need substantial funding to mount an effective legal action and secure the best outcome for the Wanaka and Upper Clutha community.

If you can help out with a donation, big or small, you’ll be doing something really tangible to protect our airport and our community.

Wanaka Stakeholders Group Incorporated

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We’ve been overwhelmed with your support in recent weeks, as we work to hold our elected representatives to account, and ensure that we in this community have a fair say in what happens to the place we love and some of us call home.

Right now the proposed major expansion of Wanaka Airport is our main focus, and we’re working hard to ensure that proper, transparent process and wide, independent consultation takes place. Because the outcomes will affect us all.

Many of you have asked, “what can we do?” There are many things: writing and calling your local and national representatives, talking to friends and neighbours about what is happening, and contacting media outlets.

But here’s another thing you could do to really help: cash$$$.

Some great people have given us a hand so far, with useful contacts, messaging, media and website development. But here’s the big one right now – we are going to need legal assistance. And that, as you know, does not come cheap. So, please, if you can help out with a donation, big or small, you’ll be doing something really tangible in this fight of ours.

We’re an incorporated society, and we assure our stakeholders that your donations will be properly managed, spent wisely and appropriately, and we’ll keep you up to date on what’s gone where.

Thank you.

Kind regards, Wanaka Stakeholders Group Incorporated

www.facebook.com/wanakastakeholders