I couldn’t help but notice a couple of issues developing in Central around green space and recreational facilities.

Central Motor Speedway is in a dispute with council over their land lease, while the Central Otago Pony Club and local equestrian community are pushing back against a proposal to convert part of the Racecourse Reserve into sports fields to meet population growth.

After years of relatively slow movement around future recreational land planning, pressure is now mounting over what’s actually available. Can the Cromwell Masterplan and the draft Racecourse Management Plan strike the right balance between growth, preserving valued open space and those important community values?

In the Queenstown Lakes district, population growth has already placed significant strain on existing fields and community facilities.

In Wānaka, a private/council partnership has earmarked land on Ballantyne Rd for future greenfield development, with excellent collaboration across various sports groups. 

In Queenstown, land at 516 Ladies Mile was purchased by a previous council and is also tagged for future sporting use, though progress there lags behind the Wānaka project.

Sport and recreation offer valuable life lessons. They introduce teamwork, enhance wellbeing, build identity, and it does and can help bring communities together. Yet the pressure on infrastructure continues to grow.

The Queenstown Events Centre, built in 1997, is only now undergoing plans to expand its indoor court, this after years of demand and warnings from user groups.

Across the board, infrastructure struggles to meet demand while community facilities often fail to make the budget cut. That’s nothing new for QLDC, but the past few weeks have highlighted a wider regional issue.

Like the red weed in War of the Worlds, these challenges have crept through the Kawarau Gorge.

I’ll be watching closely to see how things unfold with the speedway and equestrian groups and what role Anderson Park may play in future decisions.

To the CODC: Welcome to our world.

That's my view from the sideline.