I welcome your feedback and thoughts and undertake to respond to all questions within 24 hours. Please e-mail your feedback to cath@cathgilmour.co.nz

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How can Council support businesses?

For nearly eight years, I have struggled to secure a good job that pays enough to allow me to even consider buying a home. I see this as a big problem and would be keen to know your thoughts?

I agree we need to care for our environment, what I want to know is, what is being done about it?

How can Council support businesses?

Like other councils throughout New Zealand, Council supports all businesses by providing essential services like roads, water and other infrastructure.

Resource consent and other regulatory functions should be becoming less frustrating under Lakes Environmental, the council owned organisation that has recently taken over from CivicCorp. The acting chief executive has instructed staff to be more enabling and helpful. In time, fees should also be more transparent and appropriate.

Currently, council supports Film Queenstown, a local fashion cluster and Destination Queenstown but does not have a specific business promotion policy. Such a policy should result in more focused, co-ordinated support for business growth in the district. Council is also in the process of developing an events policy, which will hopefully help on both the business and community building fronts.

I believe Queenstown could benefit from an Economic Development Unit. In other councils, such a group actively encourages and promotes business development, provides incentive programmes and services, and assists with regional and national initiatives. I am currently researching this option further.
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For nearly eight years, I have struggled to secure a good job that pays enough to allow me to even consider buying a home. I see this as a big problem and would be keen to know your thoughts?

I agree, this is a serious concern. Many of us end up juggling lots of jobs, leaving little time for fun and family. The problem will never totally disappear - it is a consequence of living in a popular, small, geographically isolated place. Because there is not much available land and lots of people are prepared to pay well for it, property is expensive. Freight from main centres will always add to costs.

But on the positive side – Queenstown also provides more opportunities for some lines of work than any other comparably-sized New Zealand town and attracts a lot of self starters and entrepreneurs because of the opportunities it provides.

Expensive land and isolation will continue to be factors for anyone living in Queenstown, but there are ways council can help. It has already set up the Affordable Housing Trust, which aims to have 2300 affordable homes district-wide in the next decade. I look forward to researching further options and helping progress council’s work on this front.

An Economic Development Unit within council could potentially help new businesses set up and diversify Wakatipu's economy. This should help create a wider range of better paying, stable jobs. I believe this could be an important part of securing our future, and merits further investigation and investment.

Council also has a role in ensuring we have a connected community, where people want to put down roots and belong. For instance, council’s special projects manager can make a huge contribution to community events and consequently, community spirit.

By the middle of next year, we will have a swimming pool - I hope both this and the Events Centre will be open on both days of the weekend to provide affordable recreation and a community hub. Ditto the library.

Wakatipu Trails Trust’s work is helping provide affordable recreation options and cheaper, less polluting ways to commute. Strong advocacy from council at the zoning and pre-resource consent stage of developments could better ensure good pedestrian/cycle linkages within and between our communities.

A lot of work has been done on the proposed Civic Centre to provide much-needed, top-quality performance space. I believe details of this, and how to balance conference use with community use, might still need debate.

I am on the elderly health care committee, which is an informal group outside of council working towards a facility that will let our elderly remain in town with their families. Strong councillor representation on this should help progress. Council could potentially help in terms of land provision and liaison with the Southland and Otago District Health Boards.

I would work to better support our community associations and ensure their voices are heard in council. Many of the best ideas about how to make our communities strong will come from within our communities – I look forward to being a conduit between the people I represent and council. I would look at every decision council makes in terms of how it helps our local communities thrive.
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I agree we need to care for our environment - what I want to know is, what is being done about it?

Rubbish disposal and sewage are two of the issues on this front that need urgent attention.

Kerbside recycling is due to be introduced in October. But we can all recycle now through the Frankton transfer station and Wakatipu Waste Recyclers in Queenstown Industrial Estate. Every month for over five years, we have taken a station wagon full of recyclables out of the waste stream in this way.

It is good to see the Mediterranean Market’s initiative in charging for plastic bags and providing reusable cloth bags at cost. I hope other outlets follow their example.

Council's original plans to dispose of sewage to land on the Shotover Delta were stymied by the costly mistake of allowing the wrong fill to be dumped on the site. From what I have read in the media and agenda items, council staff are now looking at other possible sites. I look forward to finding out if they have investigated other alternatives.

The district plan is one of council’s primary tools for protecting the environment. Council should be a strong advocate through this to ensure short term gain does not win out over long-term sustainability and neighbourhood amenity. I would be a strong voice on this front, as I have been as a private individual through resource consent hearings and submissions. All residents can have a role in this, by speaking up for our landscape and community.

Wakatipu Trails Trust should be supported in its work to create linkages and loops between the basin’s settlements, providing safe and enjoyable pedestrian and cycle options to reduce car use. But we also must investigate how to make sure there are funds to maintain these long-term.
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