All forms of accommodation providers in the Queenstown Lakes District should continue to operate as normal this summer, Queenstown Lakes District Mayor Clive Geddes said.

From residents who rented their property out for a few days or weeks to home stay providers to moteliers, people should continue to operate normally without any fear or concern of Council enforcement.

"I would be very concerned to see an over reaction to our endeavors to interpret and administer the District Plan," Mr Geddes said.

In October the Council conducted an education campaign to alert the accommodation sector to the Council?s obligation to administer the District Plan.

"We have received a lot of reaction, which has enabled us to better assess the process. The result has seen us working closely with representatives of the accommodation industry to come up with a sensible and workable solution to those obligations," QLDC acting chief executive Stewart Burns said.

What it had highlighted was that the literal interpretation of the District Plan was clearly too prescriptive and the Council was now working to find ways to achieve compliance without unnecessary fuss or delay. The Council's aim was to develop a comprehensive information sheet which would be available widely in the New Year.

"The District Plan anticipates these uses in a positive way. People need to understand the rules and how to comply so they can get on with their business in a legitimate way," Mr Geddes said.

All accommodation providers would be able to sit down and conduct a self assessment of their particular circumstance and match that to a tiered set of requirements we are working on, Mr Burns said.

"I would like to make it very clear, no one needs to cancel bookings, take down the signs or close for the summer. Once we have fully assessed all of the information before us we will be able to clearly help people to assess whether they need to be in the consenting process or not," Mr Geddes said.

In many cases, such as home stays and bed and breakfast operations with a resident operator, where four people or less a night are accommodated, there would be no consent or permission required.

ENDS

For further information please contact Clive Geddes or Stewart Burns 03 441 0499

By: Kiri