A Wanaka resident?s attempt to discredit the Queenstown Lakes District Council has fallen flat.

Wanaka man Andre Prassinos asked the Auditor General to investigate two matters, being the council's decision to fund a notification hearing for a retrospective consent for a blue wall on a Wanaka home; and costs associated with the Cardrona bra fence.

Mr Prassinos questioned the decision of QLDC chief executive Duncan Field to commit ratepayer funds when, he alleged, private individuals had chosen to 'violate' their resource consent conditions.

However the Office of the Auditor General found the council had not acted unlawfully or improperly.

In a letter to Mr Prassinos, assistant Auditor General Bruce Robertson noted firstly that a local authority was entitled, not obliged, to pass on the cost of resource consent applications and secondly that it (council) was entitled to take action itself to remove an improper work on land that it controlled.

"The costs involved here do not seem excessive," Mr Robertson stated in the letter.

The decision by the Office of the Auditor General not to pursue the matter any further was entirely appropriate, Mr Field said.

In both cases the council was able to work through the issues to come up with a resolve for all parties. The council had the discretion to do that in a number of different ways, he said.

"If nothing else Mr Prassinos has simply highlighted the fact that the council is conducting itself in a fair and responsible way. It's unusual and somewhat ironic that a member of the community felt he must take us to task for acting in a reasonable manner," Mr Field said.

ENDS

For more information please contact Duncan Field 03 441 0499.

By: Sarah