A new Queenstown Lakes District Council grant scheme is designed to assist with the protection and preservation of heritage items in the community QLDC senior policy analyst Scott Figenshow said.

The council has embraced a policy that enables it to award grants to assist in either the funding of professional advice or reimbursement of land use consent or building consent fees Mr Figenshow said.

The council had made an annual sum of 15000 available to members of the community with heritage items listed in the District Plan.

The grants are recognition that a property owner may incur a cost because of the historic designation Its also an encouragement for those who are concerned at the cost of preservation he said.

Applications were open now for the grants and would be considered on a first come basis until the annual allocation had been used up.

Differing grants are available according to the category the item falls within Its also worth noting that under category two trees can also be subject to funding Mr Figenshow said.

Anyone considering applying for the grants was encouraged to also explore resources and funding from other sources.

A good place to start is the Reference Resource for Cooperative Community Historic Heritage which can be found on the Ministry for the Environment website wwwmfegovtnz Mr Figenshow said.

ENDS

For further information contact Scott Figenshow 03 441 0499

By: Sarah