The Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board (WUCCB) approved the removal of 70 mature trees from the Wānaka Golf Club at yesterday’s (Thursday June 22) meeting.

The trees, which are being removed to make way for two reservoirs for the club, will each be replaced with two new trees within a year of their removal, but the topic has divided the board more than once.

The tree removal request first went to the board at a meeting in March and members could not come to a decision - in part because of a proposed three-year time frame for replanting - so the item was left on the table. 

This time around, in addition to the one year replanting commitment, the club must provide WUCCB chair Simon Telfer with a replanting plan (detailing species, location and grade).

The item still received a fair amount of debate yesterday, with WUCCB member Linda Joll saying she could not support the removal of 70 “magnificent” trees.

John Wellington, who is also a WUCCB member, said he shared Linda’s concern but was pleased to see some areas of concern had been addressed since the item was first brought to the board and he supported it “with some hesitation”.

Queenstown Lakes District Council is responsible for administering the 56-or-so hectare recreational reserve that the golf club leases and Simon expressed frustration that the board had not been consulted on the “significant changes” to the reserve much earlier.

Deputy mayor Quentin Smith agreed, reiterating his point from the March meeting that the trees were “in some ways a secondary issue” to the reservoir infrastructure, which the WUCCB had not been consulted on. 

Councillor Barry Bruce was “happy to support” the tree removal as he said the club had been “very good custodians of the land”, while Lyal Cocks and Cody Tucker, as club members, declared conflicts and did not weigh in.

The golf club said the new reservoirs would enable a new, more efficient irrigation system and its location, designed for a site 300m northeast from the intersection of Ballantyne Road and Golf Course Road, would require the removal of fewer trees than other sites it had considered.

Wānaka Golf Club must obtain all necessary resource consents for the reservoirs prior to the removal of any trees.

PHOTO: Wānaka App