Green light for multimillion-dollar equestrian centre at Lake Hood
By local democracy reporter Jonathan Leask:
A proposed $200m equine stud and equestrian training centre at Lake Hood near Ashburton has the go-ahead.
Commissioner Graham Taylor granted Southern Parallel Equine Centre Limited (SPEC) land use consent, subject to conditions, on Thursday.
It had already received resource consent approval from Environment Canterbury in March.
Project director Catherine Stuart could not be reached last week, but on social media said her team’s long-term focus, strength of purpose, commitment and enduring patience have been rewarded.
“Other than a few conditions placed on SPEC, we have approval to move forward with our ground-breaking plans to bring growth, opportunity, and revenues to the Ashburton region.
“The SPEC team looks forward to supporting and further developing the equestrian sector in the region and wider realms.
“The team looks forward to the work ahead to establish SPEC, ensuring future successes towards confirming Ashburton as an equestrian sports horse destination.”
After “‘jumping’ the hurdles” to get resource consent, the next step is getting building consent.
The plan is to develop the 65ha of land next to Lake Hood and SPEC wants to start construction later this year for an expected opening before the end of 2025.
According to the consent documents, the equine centre would feature an indoor horse sale centre, veterinary clinic, stables with 650 stalls and training arenas as well as fields for show jumping, dressage, eventing, polo training, and grazing pastures.
It was estimated the project would create 850 jobs during construction, and once fully operational would employ 160 people.
Stage two would be an SPC Life Skills and Education Centre, the foundation of the project, built on a separate site.
The consent came with 30 conditions, including that the conditions can be reviewed annually by the Ashburton District Council.
Taylor was satisfied with the proposed 25 calendar day limit for events, with events classified as having over 50 visitors and each event requires a traffic management plan.
All horse manure needs to be cleaned out from the stable areas and disposed of off-site daily and cannot be stored outside the stables.
A proposed condition limiting residential activity on site was requested by submitters but as no consent was sought for any other residential use, Taylor was unable to place further conditions on residential use that has not been applied for.
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Poll: Would you rather: Christmas in summer forever or winter forever?
Just a bit of a fun poll to get you thinking.
If you had to live out your Christmas days, would you prefer it was a summer Christmas or a winter Christmas?
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61.8% Summer
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36.5% Winter
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1.6% Other - I'll share below
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