Landscapes policy being implemented
LINZ has begun implementing a new policy designed to protect South Island lakeside landscapes from inappropriate development.
In June the Government announced that high country pastoral lease properties would be excluded from tenure review (see What is Tenure Review? ) if they had highly significant lakeside, landscape, biodiversity or other values that were unlikely to be satisfactorily protected once land was freeholded by the review process.
The new policy was in part a response to growing concern that tenure review was exposing spectacular South Island lakeside landscapes to subdivision and intensified land use.
Sixty-five properties bordering 16 high country lakes have since been excluded from tenure review unless certain conditions are met. These properties lie within 5 kilometres of and are visible from lakes greater than 5 square kilometres in area. *
LINZ's General Manager Business Support, Brian Usherwood, says 38 of the 65 affected properties were in the tenure review process.
"Although these 38 properties are now technically excluded from tenure review, lessees can re-enter the process if they agree to conditions such as lakeside land being retained by the Crown,or restrictions on the land's future use and development.
"Similarly, leaseholders of the other 27 lakeside properties affected by this policy will need to agree to these conditions in order to enter the tenure review process."
Brian says funding for two tenure review proposals of lakeside properties have been authorised by the Minister because they meet the appropriate criteria and are now proceeding.
One of these - a preliminary proposal for the Allandale and Greenvale pastoral leases on Lake Wakatipu near Kingston - was advertised for public comment in December.
This proposal involves the permanent protection of 75 percent of the property in a 6505 hectare conservation area to be managed by DOC. This would include the entire 9 kilometre lakeside area of the property to the skyline and the summit of Mt Dick (1805 m) in the Eyre Mountains.
Brian says tenure review proposals for non-lakeside properties have to sufficiently protect significant biodiversity, wetland, waterway, landscape and access features before the Government will authorise funding to allow the proposal to proceed.
For more information, including relevant Cabinet decisions, visit the Decisions on high country rents and tenure review .
What is Tenure Review?
Tenure review of a pastoral lease is a voluntary negotiation between the Crown and the lessee that results in the transfer of some land with significant values (biodiversity, landscape, recreation, historic, public access etc) to the Department of Conservation as public conservation land, and the freeholding of some land capable of productive use to the lessee. The effect of the 'lakesides' policy is that the Crown will now exercise its discretion not to participate in tenure review in some cases.
*At a distance of more than 5 kilometres, buildings and many types of landscape changes are relatively insignificant to the human eye. So if someone stands on the shore of a lake, the default position would be that tenure review would not be funded for properties within a visible radius of 5 km from where they stand.
Contact for further information: Brian Usherwood, General Manager Business Support, Land Information New Zealand, via info@linz.govt.nz or 0800 ONLINE (0800 665463).
