Council seeks feedback on Queenstown Lakes natural disaster plan

A draft strategy detailing how Queenstown Lakes communities can prepare and adapt to natural hazards will go out for public feedback this week.

The Head of Lake Whakatipu, which includes Glenorchy and Kinloch, is exposed to a complex range of natural hazards, including flooding from the lake or rivers, landslides, earthquakes and liquefaction.

For the past four years, the Otago Regional Council had been developing an adaptation strategy involving technical reports and community consultation.

Science and resilience general manager Tom Dyer said it was a comprehensive strategy to natural hazards and was the result of a collaborative approach.

"These natural hazards are relatively frequent and can be disruptive, and climate and landscape changes could make some of these natural hazards worse.

"This strategy is a result of all the work we have done to date to understand the hazards in this area. It's a holistic natural hazards strategy, which means we have considered lots of different types of responses that contribute towards natural hazards management."

Councillors would be asked to endorse the draft strategy for public feedback at a meeting on Wednesday.

"The vision of the strategy is a resilient and sustainable Head of Lake Whakatipu, where proactive natural hazard and climate adaptation enhance community wellbeing and safety.

"Resilience in our context is the capacity and ability to plan for, withstand, and recover quickly from difficult conditions," Dyer said.

If signed off, the feedback period would run from Thursday until 23 February with the revised strategy expected to be released in the first half of next year.