A couple of Frankton residents are calling for Queenstown’s council to up its game and landscape along an unloved part of Lake Whakatipu’s shore.
Longstanding resident Mark Instone, who lives in a lakeside enclave comprising two dozen former Frankton cribs, which date back to the 1950s, points out the contrast between the ‘‘scruffy’’ stretch in front of his tidy home and Airbnb and the ‘‘beautifully finished’’ area through the neighbouring Frankton marina.
‘‘They’ve made it [the marina] a great area.
“Why didn’t they just carry it on?’’
Instone estimates about 100 wedding parties a year use the small wharves which stretch into the lake to take photos, with the Remarkables as a backdrop.
But in the same area, dogs let off their leashes can’t resist the scrubby ground.
‘‘Even with the best of intentions, the owners can’t find the shit,’’ he says.
Instone suggests landscaping work wouldn’t be difficult — it would be a case of removing old willow tree stumps, arranging a load of large rocks and adding fill to replace parts of the shoreline that have eroded.
‘‘Give us a digger and a truck and we’ll do it ourselves.’’
Neighbour Neil Jackson says he asked the council to do something about the landscaping eight years ago, but was told there was no money for the work.
Like Instone, he believes bringing the lakeshore up to the same standard as that along the marina wouldn’t be difficult.
A council spokesman confirms no work is planned for that section of lakeshore, other than routine maintenance, however residents can present their ideas to the council through either the community services team, their councillor, or the Frankton Community Association.
The spokesman says the lakeshore is a ‘‘dynamic natural environment’’ that tends not to lend itself to formal landscaping.
In addition, ‘‘the sheer number of properties situated close to the lakeside and public reserves might preclude council setting a precedent in
specific locations’’.
