The Ayrburn Screen Hub proposal includes two sound stages, production facilities and supporting infrastructure on a privately owned site near Arrowtown, and is being considered under the fast-track approvals process. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Neighbouring resident Neil Green said he \u201cstrongly opposed\u201d the development.<\/p>\n
Green described the proposal as a \u201cTrojan horse\u201d, arguing it was \u201ca tactical manoeuvre to bypass the District Plan and secure a high-density accommodation in a rural zone, using a film studio as the vehicle\u201d. <\/p>\n
He said the proposal would affect \u201cthe quiet enjoyment of their properties, and the overall amenity values of the area\u201d. <\/p>\n
He also rejected the project\u2019s economic case.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe economic case is \u2018sketchy\u2019 at best. It lacks independent verification and fails to justify why this specific, sensitive location is required for regional film infrastructure,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Long-term resident and landscape architect Rebecca Hadley said she \u201cstrongly oppose[d] the Ayrburn Screen Hub proposal in its entirety\u201d, also describing it as \u2018a Trojan horse\u2019 for visitor accommodation or high-density residential subdivision\u201d. <\/p>\n
Hadley said the development would destroy what planning documents have repeatedly identified as critical \u201cbreathing space\u201d between Arrowtown, Millbrook and North Lake Hayes. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe activity should not be located in an important rural landscape that provides open space (breathing space) between Arrowtown\/Millbrook Resort and the North Lake Hayes Rural Residential zone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She criticised the proposed landscape mitigation, which includes extending an existing landform using about 65,000 cubic metres of fill: \u201cThis design concept is flawed. It is not authentic.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hadley said the mitigation would \u201cresult in a loss of legibility of the natural form and geological features of the landscape\u201d and \u201cobstruct the breathing space required to be maintained by the PDP\u201d. <\/p>\n
Resident and chartered engineer James Hadley submitted that the proposal should be described not as a screen-hub, but \u201ca commercial Film Studio with Offices and Short Stay, hotel-type accommodation\u201d. <\/p>\n
Queenstown Lakes District Council has raised concerns about the scale and location of development proposed across the site, while central government ministers have cited potential economic benefits. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Hadley said residents had endured \u201cno less than 10 different development proposals on the subject land\u201d over the past decade, most of which had been rejected by councils, independent commissioners or the courts. <\/p>\n
He warned the current proposal repeated the same pattern. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems that \u2018No\u2019 does not mean \u2018No\u2019 if you are WPDL.\u201d <\/p>\n
He described the proposed earthworks as extreme, saying they were \u201cmore akin to a mining operation than a sensibly conceived building project\u201d. <\/p>\n
He added the buildings – up to 15 metres high – were \u201cmore akin to a city business park or industrial precinct\u201d and \u201ca square peg in a round hole.\u201d <\/p>\n
The development includes large-scale studio and backlot areas, which neighbours argue would introduce industrial-level activity. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
Neighbour David Kidd also objected, saying his property was \u201cless than 50m from the site and about 100m from the closest collection of buildings\u201d, and argued that low-frequency sound was \u201cpoorly attenuated by vegetation\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cOver a sustained and ongoing period, the impacts on our amenity will be significant and unable to be mitigated to any satisfactory degree,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Other residents raised similar concerns about noise, scale and compatibility with rural living. <\/p>\n
One submission said an industrial film facility and accommodation complex was \u201cfundamentally incompatible with the rural-residential amenity of Speargrass Flat.\u201d <\/p>\n
QLDC opposed key aspects of the proposal, saying its primary concerns related to \u201cthe effects upon landscape character and visual amenity\u201d, \u201cinconsistency with many relevant objectives and policies in the QLDC Proposed District Plan\u201d, and a \u201clack of capacity in the Council\u2019s potable water scheme to service the proposal\u201d.<\/p>\n
The proposed Ayrburn Screen Hub would include two sound stages and production facilities on a 26-hectare site near Speargrass Flat. Image \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
The council said peer review work assessed landscape effects as \u201cmoderate to moderate-high\u201d, and warned that the scale and intensity of the development \u201camounts to urban development outside the Urban Growth Boundary\u201d.<\/p>\n
ORC took a more supportive but conditional position, saying it had not undertaken its own economic assessment, but that \u201ctaking this report at face value, the ORC agrees that the proposal\u2019s economic benefits are of regional if not of national significance\u201d.<\/p>\n
ORC also pointed to potential water quality benefits, saying the proposal had the potential to \u201creduce sediment load to Lake Hayes for the life of the consent\u201d if mitigation measures were adequately designed and maintained.<\/p>\n
However, ORC also confirmed it had previously \u201cissued an abatement notice in 2021 for a sediment discharge to the Clutha Mata-Au River\u201d in relation to one of the applicant\u2019s associated companies.<\/p>\n
The developer, Waterfall Park Developments Limited, said the project would deliver significant economic benefits, provide purpose-built infrastructure for the screen industry, and include environmental remediation works in the Lake Hayes catchment.<\/p>\n
In its fast-track referral application, WPDL also cited support from Film Queenstown Lakes manager Kahli Scott, who said there was \u201centhusiasm for a fit-for-purpose screen hub from an economic development standpoint\u201d, and that supporting the film industry was a priority identified in the district\u2019s Economic Diversification Plan.<\/p>\n
Scott said the proposed hub was intended to \u201ccomplement, rather than compete with, existing facilities like Screentime\u2019s Remarkable Studios\u201d, and would help address a shortage of indoor filming space in the district.<\/p>\n
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop said he wished to \u201cexpress my broad support for projects which deliver positive outcomes for New Zealand, including the Ayrburn Screen Hub project\u201d, describing the letter as reflecting the Government\u2019s economic growth and infrastructure priorities. <\/p>\n
South Island Minister James Meager said assessments indicated the project would \u201cinject approximately $258.00 million net present value (NPV) into the regional economy during the three-year construction phase\u201d, supporting about 1890 full-time equivalent jobs over the build period. <\/p>\n
Tourism Minister Louise Upston said she considered the proposal \u201clikely to deliver positive outcomes for the Queenstown Lakes District and the wider region\u201d, including supporting economic diversification and visitor infrastructure.<\/p>\n
The economic assessment prepared for the developer estimates construction and development spending of about $127m excluding land, with total direct expenditure of $190m over a three-year build period.<\/p>\n
That spending is modelled to generate about $258m (NPV) in regional economic activity, with a further $462m (NPV) over the first 10 years of operation, according to WPDL\u2019s assessment.<\/p>\n
The proposal is now under consideration by an expert panel in the fast-track approvals process.<\/p>\n
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ayrburn Screen Hub proposal includes two sound stages, production facilities and supporting infrastructure on a privately owned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218909,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12635,49775,170,36426,2893,593,71,32666,132037,14568,132036,6215,78,296,13207,19720,3180,111,43,139,69,32361,26346,3263,20930,530,1519,3175,5419,18835,23367,83061,76002,132038,26697],"class_list":["post-218908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-area","tag-ayrburn","tag-development","tag-drawn","tag-fear","tag-film","tag-from","tag-hayes","tag-hollywoodstyle","tag-horse","tag-hotelscale","tag-hub","tag-in","tag-into","tag-lake","tag-land","tag-near","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-opposition","tag-planned","tag-project","tag-queenstown","tag-residents","tag-risks","tag-rural","tag-screen","tag-strong","tag-studio","tag-transforming","tag-trojan","tag-urbanscale","tag-warn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}