Community group Friends of Bullock Creek (FOBC) has raised concerns about council’s proposed deferral of $6M of investment in stormwater for seven years.

The group has submitted to the Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) Annual Plan public consultation process, which closes tonight (Wednesday April 26) at 5pm.

The FOBC says the draft plan's proposed deferral of a $6M investment in Stone Street stormwater assets out to YE 2030, would be a major setback for its mandate of protecting Bullock Creek and the wetlands.

The proposed deferral has been blamed on the council’s liability in historic leaky home cases in Queenstown. QLDC has spent at least $40M in the past financial year defending weathertightness claims, much of which relates to apartments developed in the late 2000s.

Read more: Leaky homes settlement costs ratepayers millions

FOBC’s submission to the QLDC said the deferral would effectively trade off past generation’s liability for seven more years of stormwater contamination in Roys Bay.

The group said this contamination would come with associated mitigation costs, continued vulnerability of properties to inundation of untreated stormwater flooding, and would undermine “the tangible benefits of current investment in promoting Wānaka as a tourist destination”.

“We believe that deferring investment in stormwater infrastructure as proposed under the Draft Annual Plan is inconsistent with the statutory responsibilities of QLDC,” the FOBC said.

“The scientifically acknowledged decline of the ecological health of Lake Wānaka and its creeks will continue unless we proactively decide to take action to treat stormwater before it enters our freshwater ways.”

Read more: Bullock Creek promotion and preservation continues

Read more about the Annual Plan and submit here.