A last minute decision late last year to reduce a Cromwell traveller’s accommodation proposal from 120 days down to just 30, failed to gain the approval of a hearings panel.

Crum Developments already has consent to build six single two-storey multi-unit dwellings on the site of the old garden site in Barry Ave, which was granted on the basis that it would help the local housing crisis.

But, the owners then changed their mind and tried to gain further consents that would make them more attractive on the real estate market.

The proposal was for each individual unit to be used as traveller’s accommodation, and the applicant intended to sell each unit with the new consents in place.

In its decision to decline the application, hearings panel chair Neil Gillespie noted that the original consent was to provide housing, “and the fact the units have not so much as been constructed yet, the panel are not satisfied that the granting of consent for them to be used for travellers accommodation is appropriate.”

Consultant planner for the council Oli Monthule-McIntosh noted in his evidence that there were 88 listings on Air BnB in Cromwell on the day he carried out a search, and only one listing for a house long term.

The panel could not ignore the fact that the proposal would impact on the already critically low supply of housing in the community.

“As units that are bought for accommodation purposes are often investment properties, this is particularly concerning for the rental market, which is in critically low supply in Central Otago. Such scarcity disproportionately impacts young people and lower-income workers, who are often more reliant on rental housing,” Neil said.

Another proposal for traveller’s accommodation on Shortcut Rd, that had originally been operating without the appropriate consents, was still under consideration by commissioners.