Developer to make affordable housing contribution

The Queenstown Lakes District Council has entered into an agreement with Willowridge Developments Limited to provide future affordable and community housing in Wanaka.

The council had been working closely with Willowridge Developments director Allan Dippie to finalise the agreement, which would see at least 140 affordable homes built over an estimated 10 to 15 years in the proposed Three Parks development, between SH84, Riverbank and Ballantyne Road.

“Of these, at least 40 homes will be built by the Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust and at least 50 homes will be provided by Willowridge’s ‘Kiwi First Home Ownership Scheme’,” said QLDC chief executive Duncan Field.

The Kiwi First Scheme is an initiative developed by Willowridge Developments to assist in addressing affordable housing issues in the area. It has so far been successfully implemented at the Timsfield residential development at Lake Hawea.

The agreement was a great example of what could be achieved when the public and private sectors worked together to benefit the community.

“This is a significant contribution to Wanaka’s future supply of affordable housing and a great outcome for the Wanaka community,” Mr Field said.

“We are delighted to have reached this agreement with Allan and we’d like to thank him for his co operation,” said Mr Field

“The district will continue to face some significant challenges around the affordability of housing and initiatives such as these will ease the burden for many people working to secure home ownership in the future” said Mr Dippie.

Meanwhile, the council notified a plan change for the Three Parks area on Wednesday this week. Plan Change 16: Three Parks, aimed to accommodate a range of urban land uses to meet many of Wanaka’s future growth needs.