Draft Economic Strategy Consultation Extended

Queenstown Lakes District Council will be embarking on a second round of consultation over the Draft Economic Strategy, to encourage stakeholders and the public to consider the wider issues that the strategy raises.

Submissions close on Friday and Deputy Mayor Lyal Cocks said that most of the feedback to date suggested that submitters were focusing on the proposal to review the district’s tourism bodies.

“That was just one of 15 suggestions, but it appears to have become a contentious issue for many people, and distracted attention from the other parts of the strategy. It may be better to park the promotion body issue and encourage those organisations to focus on the wider, strategic economic development opportunities for our district.”

After submissions close and have been analysed, the Council will consider the key points and agree on a schedule of changes, then seek further input from stakeholders and the community before the end of the year.

“Once we have considered feedback and developed a schedule of changes based on what people have told us so far, we will put all the feedback and the proposed changes on our website and invite a second round of comment during November/ December,” Cr Cocks said.

The Council would need to amend and adopt the strategy by February 2015 in time for any funding requirements or other changes to be included in the Draft Ten Year Plan.

“By doing it this way and incorporating the Economic Strategy outcomes into the Ten Year Plan, the Council and the community will effectively get a third opportunity to have a say on which, if any, of the actions from the strategy should be implemented and or funded.”

QLDC will be consulting on the new Ten Year Plan in March 2015.

ENDS

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