The long line of white campervans along the foreshore adjacent to Ardmore Street was one of things locals wanted to avoid with the council’s lakefront development plan, but the newly unveiled lakefront continues to feature a ‘white wall’.

When the Wānaka Community Board (WCB) endorsed the concept design for stage two of Wānaka’s Lakefront Development Plan (LDP) in November 2020, board members including Ed Taylor said preventing the mass of campervans from parking on the foreshore blocking lake views - the “great white wall of Wānaka” - was crucial.

It was also important the white wall wasn’t “simply relocated to Ardmore Street”, he said, and the board discussed allocating parks for campervans along McDougall Street or under the trees between Stoney Creek and the Mt Aspiring Road carpark.

Parking on Ardmore Street earlier this week.

The $4.14M stage two redevelopment plans (from the Mt Aspiring Road car park east along the foreshore to the edge of the CDB) included 110 car parks adjacent to a 3.5m-wide sealed promenade and irrigated lawns. 

Two years after the plans were signed off, stage two is mostly complete - yet the new car parks are being used by campervans.

Read more: Street reopens as lakefront project nears completion

However, the ‘white wall’ is only temporary, QLDC media and channels advisor Sam White told the Wānaka App.

Walkers and runners enjoying the revamped lakefront on a sunny day.

“The new parking bays created as part of stage two were always designed for cars. Campervans and large passenger vehicles will not be permitted to park there once signage is in place,” he said.

Prohibiting campervan parking in the new bays on Ardmore Street was part of the project design approved by the previous community board, he said. 

QLDC is undertaking a time trial for the new parking.

QLDC will soon start trialling time restrictions at the new car parks, with a maximum limit of up to four hours in some sections, and a recommendation on parking restrictions will be made to the Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board (WUCCB).

WUCCB chair Simon Telfer said the board will be meeting with the QLDC team running the trials on December 8 to discuss progress.

Simon said the WUCCB has delegations around the time restrictions but it does not have delegations around campervan parking.

“We will be consulted about the parking time restrictions,” he said. “If officers want some broader feedback from us on the signage, the trial and campervans they might ask us…”

The lakefront at sunrise.

Simon said stage two was looking great, noting that the transformed lakefront area would continue to improve as fencing to protect the growing grass is removed and as the planting grows. 

QLDC councillor and former community board chair and WUCCB member Chris Hadfield also commented on the appearance of the revitalised stage two, describing it as stunning.

PHOTOS: Wānaka App