Matt Wong, 44 iFLY Indoor Skydiving Queenstown owner/ managing directorMary Weston Steve Chernishov, 41 educatorEsther Whitehead, 47 Thrivable.design inclusive sustainability educatorClaire Turnham, 41 advocate, educator, campaignerPeter Newport Niki Gladding, 47 councillorTony DornerGavin Bartlett, 50 engineer

• Published date: 15 September 2022
• Publication title: Mountain Scene

2.In the short term, a review of the progress of town centre upgrade and arterial route worksites in the CBD, a rationalisation of the existing parking spaces that have been made unavailable due to these works, and freeing up as many of these as possible throughout the remaining work

3.Firstly, to adjust the things we can within our control to make the Queenstown Lakes district a desirable place to live, especially around housing availability and affordability. Secondly, to encourage government to improve the immigration process so we can welcome the migrant workers wanting to make Queenstown Lakes district home.

4.I know from personal experience that Orbus is currently not meeting the required levels of service in Queenstown; ORC’s control of the service from Dunedin does not currently appear to be serving the Whakatipu well. I would support QLDC taking a lead role in the provision of the service locally.

5.Tourism is likely to return to at least pre-COVID levels relatively quickly. Diversifying our economy away from a reliance on tourism will take innovative thinking and considerable time, but is possible. The ability to attract businesses and people in new sectors to our district will be affected by potential barriers such as the cost of living, housing availability and our relatively remote location, issues we are already dealing with as a community.

Did not respond by deadline

1.I am offering to build collaborative links between Central Otago, Southland District, and Invercargill. It is my view that each area can benefit from having one local representative who is able to connect directly with the people & contribute to council decision-making with the view to build a resilient localised economy.

2.Considering limited roading access to the shopping and hospitality centre around the lake, I believe it will be worth consulting with the locals and writing a publication with professional insight from our people. Queenstown has an abundance of acting and retired local architects, engineers, planners, and creative people who have brilliant ideas we need.

3.Council needs to focus in on improving ‘non-regulatory’ services as outlined in the Local Government Act. These are resources, support systems and facilities that are designed to educate, empower and provide services to the public. Currently, council has a focus on ‘regulatory services’ — legislation and controls that are oftentimes painfully restrictive.

4.I believe that if existing bus services are to...