Woolshed's owner unhappy at 'spying'

Wanaka developer Allan Dippie has accused Upper Clutha Environmental Society secretary Julian Haworth of spying on him.

"It's actually very creepy to have someone spying on you with a huge zoom camera lens.

"People get locked up for this sort of dubious activity."

Mr Dippie was reacting to an email circulated by Mr Haworth showing a photo of the woolshed Mr Dippie moved from Luggate into an area of outstanding natural landscape, on the western side of Lake Wanaka.

In the email, Mr Haworth said the society was concerned the woolshed had been modified by the addition of a deck and its "historic" corrugated iron being replaced, by the addition of two other buildings, and "it appears that residential living facilities, in the form of a sleepout, have been built at the front of the building".

Mr Haworth said it was clear in the Queenstown Lakes District Council's resource consent decision the woolshed was "to be retained with its historic appearance and that it would be used only for animals or animal-related activities.

"At no stage was it contemplated that it would be converted into a residential sleepout".

He called for work on the woolshed to stop, the deck and two additional buildings to be removed and the woolshed to be "returned to its historic state".

In an email to the Otago Daily Times, Mr Dippie described Mr Haworth as "a media attention seeker".

"Maybe if he asked me rather than jumped to his own inaccurate conclusions he would realise he's barking up the wrong tree."

He suggested Mr Haworth "mind his own business and stay out of other people's private lives".

"I'm not sure he would like it if I went around to his place and spied on him."

Mr Dippie explained the woolshed was being restored "to full working condition" and it had not been modified.

"We have been very careful to keep it rustic and original."

Mr Dippie said "not one single sheet" of corrugated iron had been removed from the building and no residential living facilities had been added.

"Who the hell would want to live in a woolshed?" he said.

The deck was intended to sit on and as the main access to the building.

One of the additional buildings was a builder's shed and the other was "a very cute historic musterers' hut we have saved and are restoring".

He said he had not yet decided where the hut would go.

A council spokeswoman said concerns raised about the woolshed were being investigated.