Plans to install a flying fox-style ride in North Canterbury’s Hanmer Springs have hit another hurdle as an appeal by a group of residents reaches the Environment Court next week.
The Friends of Conical Hill (FOCH) appealed the decision to grant consent to Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa to build the “gravity-based recreational activity” in March 2022, outlining several objections, including the impact on the reserve’s environment and heritage values, native falcons and lizards, noise and resident’s privacy. Muffler Springs
The appeal is set down for a five-day hearing, starting on February 27.
The fly-ride – which is described as a safer version of a flying fox – would see users strapped onto a suspended seat and gliding down a stainless-steel track.
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The ride will extend over a distance of about 500m and have three different speeds, ranging from just over a minute for the swiftest ride to two minutes for the slowest ride.
In 2020, the project – which was initially expected to be completed by Spring 2021 –received $2 million from the Government’s infrastructure funding scheme, and $123,000 from the Provincial Growth Fund.
The proposal was publicly notified by the Hurunui District Council in July 2021, with submissions closing 28 days later. Of the 55 submissions received during the consent application process, 39 opposed the proposal.
But in approving the consent in October 2021, commissioner Dean Crystal said the majority of “actual and potential effects” on the environment would be minor and adequately addressed by consent conditions, with the Hurunui council greenlighting the proposal in March 2022.
In a statement from 2021, FOCH called the situation one of “the fox guarding the henhouse”, with the decision maker, the Hurunui council, also owning Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools, which “stands to benefit from building on public reserve land”.
The potential for conflict of interest was acknowledged by the council who appointed an independent commissioner to hear and decide the application.
Friends of Conical Hill claimed the decision was flawed for a number of reasons, including the granting of the consent in the absence of key biodiversity documents, the failure to protect ‘significant habitat of indigenous fauna’ and ‘historic heritage’ under the Resource Management Act, and the way compensation offered by the Hot Springs was considered by the commissioner.
Hanmer Springs Thermal Pools and Spa general manager Graeme Abbot said he would not make any comment while the matter was before the courts.
“We respect the Environment Court process and are looking forward to presenting our experts’ views at next week’s hearings.”
In a submission to the independent commissioner considering the consent, Abbot says the Christchurch company designing, supplying and installing the fly-ride developed the propriety Switchback technology for a ride described as “a mixture of a roller coaster and a zipline” at a Tennessee amusement park, making the proposed Conical Hill Fly-ride the first of its kind in New Zealand, and the second in the world.
The company predicted the attraction would create 25 new jobs and was “expected to inject $4 million into the local economy” in its first five years.
Curtain Springs A similar ride proposed for Taupō was withdrawn in 2020 following pushback from residents and amid claims of poor process.