Contact and trustees for The Red Bridge River Park Trust this week have agreed sale conditions for a parcel of Luggate land sought by the charitable Trust to develop a community river park involving native fauna and flora restoration and freshwater ecology. The positive resolution follows over a year of discussions between long term tenant of the land and trustee Lewis Verduyn-Cassels and Contact over the proposed sale of the 0.4 ha property.
“We’re very pleased to reach an agreement that enables both parties to move forward positively, with the Trust able to now explore its plans to develop the community river park,” says Contact’s Generation & Development Project Manager, Neil Gillespie.
“We are grateful to the many people behind the scenes who have contributed their support to this agreement. The Wanaka Community Board, and numerous donors, have all made this project possible,” said River Park Trustee, Lewis VerduynCassels.” “As the original proposal for the river park included adjacent land that was sold to other individuals, the Trustees will be looking at revising the project plan to reflect the changed ownership. We literally have decades of work ahead of us as we progressively restore and enhance the Red Bridge area.”
As part of the agreed sale process the Trust will pay a portion of the market sale price of the land up front, with further settlement due within the next five years. Separate to the sale to the Trust, Contact is in the process of finalising arrangements to gift a 1.9 ha block of land adjacent to the Luggate Bridge to the local community, most likely through the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
Contact has been progressively selling parcels of land it owns in the Clutha region in recent years, following an announcement in 2012 that it was no longer progressing a proposed Hydo generation development in the area.