Rare beetles living next door to the Highlands Motorsport Park near Cromwell might not be built for speed but they get a special mention in future plans for the high-octane development.
The first reserve in the country set aside for an insect was set up in the 1970s, bordering what is now the eastern boundary of the motorsport park. The 81ha reserve is devoted to the endangered Cromwell chafer beetle, among the rarest insects in the country.
The round, flightless, nocturnal beetles are unable to move far, making them vulnerable to loss of habitat.
Resource consents for the motorsport park mentioned the beetle reserve and included a condition that a buffer zone of 25m had to remain free of any building on the park's eastern boundary.
The park opened in March this year and plans for an industrial subdivision within the park were considered by the Central Otago District Council's hearings panel this week. The panel reserved its decision.
BTW South resource management planner Richard Black applied for subdivision consent on behalf of the motorsport park to pave the way for separate ownership of 42 industrial allotments, which were likely to house ground-floor garages with accommodation above.
The application made special mention of the insects next door to the park and confirmed the buffer zone on the eastern boundary, ''avoiding potential adverse effects on the habitat of this endangered species of beetle'', Mr Black said.
Cr Terry Emmitt checked if that was all that was required, relating to the beetles, under the resource consents granted for the park. When the council applied for consent to construct a waste transfer station near the beetle reserve years ago, it had to cut down trees in the area as one of the conditions of consent, he said.
Owls which perched and nested in the trees were predators of the beetles, so the trees were removed to lessen the risk to the insects.
The beetles live in sand dunes on about 10ha of the reserve and come out at night to feed.
