Legal liability keeps playground closed

Diana Cocks, Wānaka App

A new Wānaka playground and reserve remains closed off to public access despite having been completed in June.

The reserve and playground beside Avalon Station Drive is the only community asset of this kind in the residential suburbs formed by the developers of Pembroke Terrace, Alpine Estate, Alpine Meadows and, in the future, Tussock Rise.

While the area is currently defined by numerous houses under construction, it’s already home to many families who are keen to use the playground, Pembroke Terrace project manager Iain Weir said.

Pembroke Terrace - which designed and built the playground at a cost of $900,000 - wanted to open the reserve to the public in June this year and sought Queenstown Lakes District Council (QLDC) approval.

However QLDC would not agree to take over responsibility for the area prior to it being formally vested, so it remains closed to the public and will now likely remain that way until early 2026.

“[It’s] disappointing as the losers in this situation are the public and local residents,” Iain said.

The picturesque reserve has been partially built over the subdivision’s stormwater management system.

The reserve’s land will be transferred to the QLDC as an infrastructure asset and for public use, in part as an offset for required development contributions, Iain said.

But “the majority of the work undertaken to develop the reserve… including fencing, paving, lighting, irrigation, the playground and furniture, has mostly been paid for by the developer Pembroke Terrace as a goodwill gesture”, he said.

Public amenities, such as reserves and playgrounds, are usually formally vested in councils. The ‘vesting’ process transfers ownership (and legal responsibility) of the reserve and playground from the developer to QLDC; the developer deposits the subdivision plan with Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) which issues new land titles, including a separate title for the playground in the name of QLDC.

The subdivision plan is not usually deposited until subdivision is complete, which in this case won’t be for another few months.

Council has inspected the playground and determined it meets the required NZ standards for playground safety, a QLDC spokesperson said.

The issue is that someone has to accept the legal liability; if an accident should occur who is the responsible party?

Iain said he had asked the QLDC to assume the responsibility for public use of the playground in advance of the transfer of ownership but it responded it would do so only if Pembroke Terrace took on the risk as a private party.

“As the playground is currently on private property, the decision to open the playground is up to the developer and is not determined by council”, the spokesperson said.

“Clearly that’s not something that we can do, even though the risk is negligible,” Iain said.

“We were just trying to make it better for the community with early access, but it all got too hard with the inflexible approach by QLDC.”

Meanwhile, the playground remains fenced off, unused and without a name.

A name for the new playground will be done in accordance with council’s reserve naming policy, a spokesperson said.