Around the Mountain Cycleway Closer

More action down South

The Around the Mountain cycle trail is a project planned for the Southland region, running from Walter Peak to Kingston and steps are closer to reality as resource consent applications have been lodges with district council, Environment Southland, and the Queenstown Lakes District Council

After that, the project will then move to the public notification stage but if everything went smoothly the consenting process could be wrapped up within a couple of months according to Southland District Council senior policy analyst Wayne Heerdegen.

The project has already received a large chunk of the $50m New Zealand Cycleway Fund - a good $4m.

The progress is an indication of the huge effort of paperwork, meetings and consultation needed before any turf is even turned, but the reward will be great for the region and the country and certainly true to the vision of Prime Minister John Key's development of cycle trails throughout New Zealand.

The $4m would cover the construction of first leg from Walter Peak from Mossburn, but work on the final section to Kingston would not begin until developers received the remaining funding they needed, he said.

The project is expected to cost between $8m and $9m.

The initiative to create 18 cycle trails and boost economic development throughout the country was announced by the Government in 2009 and formed the incentive for this website.