Resource consent for Equipment and Support Ltd to establish and operate more visitor accommodation at the Kakanui camping ground, South of Oamaru, was approved this week by an independent hearing commissioner.
The decision brings to an end a saga that has lasted for more than 10 years.
A two-part Waitaki District Council resource consent hearing, which considered the resource consent application seeking approval for the camping ground to expand, was conducted in Oamaru in February and this month.
Although the hearings commissioner Robert Nixon said the case had been "unusually complex", as the camping ground was already in existence, he said he had resolved to grant a formal resource consent, subject to conditions.
As part of the decision to allow the camping ground to operate, access to and from it would be confined to Waianakurua Rd, and needed to be relocated 20m north of the existing access point.
A 30m-long acoustic fence would also be erected on the site's boundary with a neighbouring property.
The decision also restricted the size of the camping ground and stated the number of consented camping sites must not exceed 30.
The number of cabins on the site would be restricted to a maximum of two.
An Environment Court decision last year placed a five camping-site restriction on the 1.22ha grounds but Mr Nixon said the current applicant had been attempting to develop the site as a camping ground for "well over a decade".
During that time, the site had been at both ends of conflicting decisions from Waitaki District Council resource consent and Environment Court hearings, but Mr Nixon said, until now, not all of the relevant issues had been addressed simultaneously at any one hearing.
Mr Jones was yesterday overseas, and unavailable for comment.
