>Concern pressure on scarce water supply
Society spokesman Richard Kohler has accused Mr McLellan of trying to achieve a subdivision on the range by stealth, and that is being denied by Mr McLellan, who obtained consent earlier this year to split 17ha off to graze sheep.
He has now applied for another 17ha to be subdivided off the remaining 556ha block on the Raggedy Range off McIntosh Rd at Poolburn, but denies he is planning a full-scale subdivision.
"I have not applied for a subdivision that doesn't comply with the district plan."
He wants the society to publish what it wants for the land on the Raggedy Range.
"I appreciated this land enough to pay for it and I appreciate the environment and the protection it receives through the district plan, which I always comply with," he said.
"They are opposing my application for a resource consent for groundwater on a 2500-acre [980ha] farm with no irrigation entitlement in the lowest rainfall area of New Zealand."
The society was also opposing wind farms, without offering any alternatives, opposing landowners at Poolburn dam getting building consent for a fishing lodge, when members of the public had non-consented cribs without land ownership, and opposing dwellings on non-productive elevated sites in favour of building on the productive valley floor, Mr McLellan claimed.
Since his subdivision application in 2006 for eight lots was turned down, Mr McLellan has obtained consents for the construction of two residences, one on each of the two large blocks.
Consent has also been granted for six 70sq m sheds across the property.
One is on the 17ha subdivided off earlier this year, and the new 17ha application would also have a shed on it.
"It only takes a variation to an existing consent to change those sheds into houses. It's no wonder we are getting worried about where it will all end," Mr Kohler said.
Mr McLellan said he had not acted on any of the consents he had received to date.
"I haven't applied for title for the consented 17ha lot and I haven't built any of the houses or sheds, but they are all a necessary requirement if the land is to be farmed productively," he said.
A Poolburn farmer is worried environmentalists fighting development on parts of the Raggedy Range might eventually force a change to the district plan and he said that would not be good for the future of the Ida Valley, or landowners.
Kim Heaney, who farms in the Ida Valley, said the Central Otago district plan was "perfectly fine" as it was and worked well.
"I wouldn't like to think that changes would be made to the plan because of the environmental push to shut down development on the `high country'."
With income from sheep farming on the decline and on-farm costs skyrocketing, some farmers in the Poolburn Valley are looking at ways to diversify to secure their future.
At the same time, environmentalists, realising more and more of the once clear and barren country valued by artists and tourists alike is being broken up into smaller parcels, are fighting to preserve the landscape for future generations.
People should be allowed to make their own decisions about their properties within reason, and the existing district plan allowed people to do that without upsetting the overall look of the landscape, Mr Heaney said.
Sue Falconer, from Bonspiel Station in the Ida Valley, says water, not tourism or farming, is the top priority, as water is scarce in the area.
But she agrees there could be a time when someone might offer her a $1 million for a piece of land on which to build a house and she would be hard pressed not take the offer.
"That would free up a large amount of cash to help preserve the remainder of the farm, and there's no way the sheep I could graze on that piece of land would bring in a million dollars.
"As farmers, we all recognise the beauty of the landscape where we live but, quite honestly, we can't have too many people in here. Larger run-holders are getting larger, and the smaller farmers are being squeezed out by the increasing costs and that's a sad thing for the country."
