Selwyn Times: April 10, 2019

8 Wednesday April 10 2019
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
Your Local Views
Time to be pro-active with tourism
Hororata
bed and
breakfast
provider Paul
McOscar
responds to
last week’s
Council Call
HIGHLIGHTED IN the twopage
Council Call supplement
the article Selwyn Tourism
Strengthening stands out.
You read it and say great.
The mayor says “this can be
attributed to the hard work of
local operators and the council’s
efforts in supporting that work.”
Pardon! Let’s be honest, credit
where credit is due. I need to be
clearer just what the council has
done.
For a number of years I along
with others have been asking
the council to become more
pro-active and get in behind
the promotion of Selwyn as a
destination not a thoroughfare
for tourists.
We look at tourism figures
increasing annually. Selwyn is in
a prime position as, at a guesstimate,
over 70 per cent who head
down to the tourist prime spots
of Tekapo, Mt Cook, and Wanaka
and of course Queenstown
pass through Selwyn by road.
That’s not to mention those that
head through Arthur’s Pass to
the West Coast.
Now I’ll hear the council say
but we have increased traveller’s
toilets (but remember with the
help of a Government subsidy)
and then of course we have freedom
camper spots.
Great that attempts to stop
behind the bush toilet stops or
rubbish accumulation from
these $20 a day (or slightly more)
spend tourists. Of course we
can say that increases our rate
bills to maintain this service for
freedom campers who we know
are here on the cheap.
Methven will leap ahead soon
with the hot water pools project.
Many of our accommodation
providers benefit from the Mt
Hutt ski season. The young like
the ski scene in Methven but
many of the mature skiers look
for more astute accommodation
elsewhere or nearby.
Let’s not forget the ski fields in
the Porter Valley.
Okay, the council will say we
have innovative brochures and
the Selwyn Experience website
(but now with a new charge if
you want anything apart from
facility name, address and contact
number).
The Hororata Community
Trust, in my opinion, does more
to support tourism in this neck
of the woods than the council.
We also have an innovative
group of tourist providers based
around Lake Coleridge who act
as a facilitator for their area to
promote tourism.
I’m sure the remaining jet
boat, balloon, horse-trekking,
gliding, fishing guides and
hunting outfitters who operate
alternative services in the
wider area will say they’d love
to have a greater share of the
tourism cake or be part of a Lake
Coleridge-type promotional
group. I haven’t mentioned the
•HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you have a view on a local
issue? Email anan.zaki@starmedia.kiwi
subsidiary business like cafes,
food stops, fuel stations and the
like that would also benefit from
greater tourist nights in Selwyn’s
wider district.
Council staff need to consider
the effect of their bureaucratic
decision-making and its outcomes
on the community and
businesses.
An example is the result of one
of the council’s asset team’s dealing
with issues at the popular
Glentunnel Holiday Park. This
occurrence has chased away
nearly 50 per cent of their last
year’s regular Xmas/New Year
holiday camp patronage.
The collateral effect is that
Hororata Golf Club saw one of its
worst green fee revenue periods
ever and the Glentunnel Store
was greatly affected by the downturn
in trade from the campers.
The council needs to become
more innovative in its response
to tourism and securing its share
of the tourist dollar spend in
Selwyn.
SELWYN TIMES
Reader William Adair
responds to last week’s
article about plans for a
quarry near Weedons
One hundred per cent opposed.
More than enough quarries in
this area. Fly into Christchurch
on the main east approach and
what do tourists see? Numerous
ugly quarries, prisons, and other
institutions.
I appreciate there is a need for
all these things but I think they
should not be concentrated in the
one area.
Noise, traffic? I note in your
article that Fulton Hogan said traffic
will go east. How do they know
that the material may be required
in the west/north/south. Have they
a crystal ball into the future?
Fulton Hogan said they would
use the new motorway. No onramp
from Dawsons or Curraghs
Rds. Where do they plan to access
it?
When a nor’easter is blowing
you have to slow down on the
Main West Rd as visibility is very
low due to dust.
Lifestyle blocks backed by
Christchurch City Council and
Selwyn District Council have been
embraced by people like myself
for just that, the lifestyle. They
should be supporting their lifestyle
ratepayers’ battle rather than being
non-proactive.
I live about 4km from the site.
I’m not directly effected but it’s
time the councils drew a line in
the sand.
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