Simon Telfer: Chair of Wānaka/UC Community Board

01/10/2026

Please come along to the Meet the Candidates evening on 8 October.

28/09/2026

My regular update on community engagement...

It was a wonderful showcasing of snow sports talent at the recent 'The Pinnacle - Celebrating Snow Sports Success’ event. A great turn out and a format that felt genuinely upfront and personal with the athletes.

I popped in to see Catherine Little, proudly 87, at Elmslie. Catherine had been kind enough to pen the Community Board a letter around the paucity of disability parking in town.

The Tramping Club AGM was a well attended affair, with an extremely informative talk by Emeritus Professor David Norton. He was both uplifting (showcasing his intrepid hikes in to the north of Mt Aspiring National Park) and sobering (sharing the impact of wild deer desecration of our native flora).

The Freedom Camping drop in session was attended by more staff and elected members than Upper Clutha residents.

My conversations continue with Heart of Wānaka, meeting again with Garth Falconer as they update suggested plans for redeveloping Lower Helwick St and the lakefront.

The offer of a free coffee saw an increased turnout at our recent Community Board Share with Us session. Wide ranging matters brought up by residents included lake snot, light pollution from 3 Parks, RMA reform, dog control in Luggate and cell towers in Northlake.

The Wānaka Airport Liaison Committee now has a key role in acting as the steering group for the development of the Airport's masterplan. This month’s meeting chewed over some chunky topics including community benefit priorities, the five year role of the Airport, land protection vs revenue generation and financial sustainability.

Wānaka Gym Sports met with me to update on the Club's plans and to pick my brains on how they best manage board member succession over the coming year.

Each month we have numerous meetings with staff to advocate for Upper Clutha projects. During August I’ve tried to get prioritisation for a Ballantyne Road corridor plan. This road is going to become increasingly trafficked, with huge cross town travel (South Wānaka to 3 Parks) using or intersecting with the road. There is currently no over arching plan, with roundabouts, pedestrian crossing points, cycle paths etc all being suggested but with little overall cohesion.

Amanda Robinson is a Queenstown based transport advocate and a member of the Mayor’s Transport Taskforce. We took the time to catch up over a cup of coffee in Frankton and swap stories about shared paths, roading, infrastructure and transport governance.

I remain engaged with the Mt Aspiring College Foundation, this month meeting with Andrew Edwards (Trustee) to understand the outputs from their recent strategic planning session.

My ex-officio role with the Chamber of Commerce has seen two board meetings focused on the upcoming Chamber Business Awards, supporting Jodie as new General Manager, simplifying Chamber’s activity (quality over quantity) and discussing ways the Chamber can best advocate for the town’s business community.

As is typical throughout each month, I received a myriad of emails and calls including matters pertaining to building new community facilities, accessing the Wānaka Asset Sales Reserve, mountain biking on Mt Iron, traffic calming on Stackbrae Ave, volunteer maintenance on Ruby Island, disabled parking and fixing potholes on Council right of ways.

24/09/2026

Local government has been the whipping boy for the last 3 years and then we have to deal with this BS.

Millions of dollars and thousands of hours to rush unreasonable deadlines and then negotiations ‘paused’.

Our communities deserve better competence than this.

The Government has told mayors around the country it's deferring decisions on amalgamating councils until after the election.

16/09/2026

Today I popped in to see Catherine Little, proudly 87, at Elmslie. Catherine had been kind enough to pen the Community Board a letter; replying by email just didn't seem right.

We had a great chat - her observations around the paucity of disability parking in town were pertinent and have resulted in a number of Requests for Service being lodged.

I also shared that her letter, especially the cursive style and the lined paper, brought back fond memories of correspondence I used to have with my Invercargill domiciled grandmother. We laughed when I noted that a younger QLDC colleague couldn't read the letter, having never seen flowing handwriting before. Its clarity suggested to me that Catherine didn't have a medical background! Were letters in her DNA, given her grandparents were postmasters at Cardrona, we pondered.

On a wet and miserable day, Catherine's positive disposition was appreciated. She empathised with some of the big challenges facing Council and downplayed the relative importance of her requests. But that is what the Community Board is for - the big and the small. With discussions imminent around creating a world class town centre, we have an opportunity to prioritise more space for those less able to walk long distances for the bank or a coffee.

16/08/2026

My community update for the past 6 weeks....

The photo is from Canmore in Alberta - last month I was lucky to get a first class, all expenses paid, ratepayer funded trip to understand this Canadian alpine town first hand (jokes - we visted while on a family vacation). More about that at the bottom of this update...

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Peter and Bex from QLDC's Economics Futures team updated me on initiatives in Wānaka to support economic growth. I shared a number of local contacts as well as encouraging a focus on commercialisation in some of our for purpose community organisations.

Central Otago District Mayor, Tamah Alley, has connected with me a couple of times to understand the views of the Upper Clutha in proposed local government amalgamation.

Abbeyfield held a Winter Fayre at the Community Hub. I walked away winless in the raffle but with enough apricot kasundi and lemon curd to last a decade.

Representatives from Bike Wānaka, Upper Clutha Tracks Trust and I met with the Shaker and his Mt Iron Junction advisers to discuss how the shared path network could be extended to tie in to his subdivision.

The transfer of land from QLDC to the Mt Aspiring College Foundation is not quite over the line yet. I met with Matt Williams, the Foundation’s Chair, to understand if there is anything else we could do to move the transaction forward.

Nicola Jacobsen, Principal of MAC, and I had a cup of tea and shared updates on our respective community leadership roles.

Local safer cycling advocates and school parents met with me, sharing their wishlist for creating better quality cycle paths and street crossings points. I was able to make internal QLDC introductions and explain how the decision making and investment process works for these types of projects.

Our six monthly Wānaka Airport Liaison meeting has seen a rejuvenation of the members (including more community representation) as it starts to play a greater steering role in the development of the master plan.

As we gather momentum for reimagining Lower Helwick St and developing Stage 4 of the lakefront reserve, I met with Howie and Garth from Heart of Wānaka and encouraged them to refresh their plans for these areas.

The WAO Summit is going to be inspiring this year. I attended the launch and have diarised a couple of events to attend in October.

I have fielded a number of resident requests this month including a safer crossing point for Cliff Wilson Drive, public transport for Hāwea Flat and support for local government amalgamation.

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Canmore was fascinating - alpine town of 17,000 residents, constant influx of tourists, strained infrastructure, pressure from developers, environmental pressure - sound familiar? Canmore is to neighbouring Banff as Wānaka is to Queenstown - spooky parallels. What we did love is that they had pedestrianised their main street for summer - it was full of people walking, biking, catching up; loads of dog walking; cafes serving out the street; little activations and artworks to entertain and inform. Loads of energy and a central focus for the town....something we could learn from in Wānaka.

07/08/2026

Before and Afters...a couple of recent Aubrey Rd shared path improvements...

1) Flooding and debris on shared path near Anderson Rd roundabout fixed through installation of a new catchpit

2) Debris from Universal Heights gravel track on to Aubrey Rd footpath mitigated by new concreted access/ramp

06/08/2026

Solving the world’s problems with Councillor Cody QLDC this morning at Pembroke Patisserie

03/08/2026

Recently I’ve been pushing for any local govt amalgamation to result in greater empowerment for the Upper Clutha.

Given it is subscriber only, my comments were:

“I've asked for Wānaka Ward councillors to ensure that the voice of the Upper Clutha is heard loud and clear at deliberations on Monday.

"We are talented town that is rapidly growing, and we need the ability to make our own decisions to ensure our environment and way of living is carefully stewarded, because we’ve seen what happens when that gets out of control”

“there are significant challenges in Queenstown around pollution of pristine waterways and traffic congestion that we are adamant we won’t emulate."

"The discussion should not be about CODC and QLDC amalgamating, it should be about how Wānaka, Cromwell, Alexandra and Queenstown can come together,”

"The Queenstown Lakes label has never been helpful, even less so during the current conversation.

“There is a disproportionate focus on the town of Queenstown when district matters are discussed in the media and at ministerial level.

“For example the Albert Town bridge urgently needs replacement but that is very hard to get on central government's radar.

“Unfortunately, and unfairly, Queenstown has a stigma in other parts of the country and that is not typically helpful to Wānaka,”

Amalgamation must drive greater empowerment for Wānaka

27/06/2026

Who says kiwis can’t support their teams (wait for it)….NZLvBEL

21/06/2026

Rhian Telfer rode 7hrs 20min today (ostensibly non stop) in support of World Vision / 40 Hour Challenge. Could you help her crack the $1,000 fundraising mark?!

https://fundraise.worldvision.org.nz/fundraisers/rhiant/