Treasury has approved a $44.5 million proposal for five new police building projects around New Zealand, including the Wanaka station.
Planning for the Wanaka station, including finding a site, setting a budget and consulting locals, cannot begin until the Cabinet approves the whole programme.
No date has been set for the Cabinet to consider the issue, but Southern district business services manager Ricky Collins, of Dunedin, said he expected it to occur ‘‘in the near future''.
In the meantime, police have applied for resource consent to extend a room at the Wanaka station by 6m, to accommodate a new staff appointment.
Mr Collins said a new Wanaka station might not be completed before mid-2011.
‘‘I am not sure how much money would be allocated to Wanaka. That would depend on whether we settle on the existing site or move to a new site . . . A project manager from Wellington has been assigned to Wanaka but he won't pick up the file until the planning phase of about August 2009.
‘‘Ideally we would be looking at a mid-2011 completion but I do stress these are provisional dates,'' Mr Collins said.
A proposal for at least one new Wanaka officer is to be considered soon by Otago Rural commander Phil Jones and Southern District Commander George Fraser.
Constable Bruce McLean (39) started in Wanaka on March 29, increasing the number of full-time officers from eight to nine.
However, sole policing at nights is an issue for local constables and they are keen to have even more staff on the local beat.
Injured officer Const Sean Hurley remains on sick leave since an incident while on sole police duty in December.
Det Snr Sgt Colin Blackie, of Alexandra, was not giving away many details on Monday April 7 about his latest application for more Wanaka staff, but it was for ‘‘certainly more than one'' officer.
The request had been fowarded to Insp Jones, who would consider it with other requests from rural Otago and take it to the district commander.
Det Snr Sgt Blackie did not know when a staffing decision would be made but believed it would be months away.
Const McLean is a part-time father of two, a keen triathlete and cyclist.
He spent the first 10 years of his police career in Dunedin, where he was born and bred.
He moved from Dunedin to Central Otago to be closer to his children, who go to school in Wanaka, and spent five months at the Cromwell station before starting work in Wanaka at the end of last month.
