Holmes says he'll plant more trees

Broadcaster Paul Holmes says he is not a flash Aucklander who has gone to Queenstown to rape and pillage the land, despite felling native trees on his idyllic Wakatipu property.

A patch of native bush on the broadcaster's land at Bobs Cove on the Glenorchy-Queenstown road was felled last week, angering neighbour Danny Carson.

But yesterday Holmes said he was upset there was an impression he was out to ruin the area.

"I might seem like a flash Aucklander that's come down and played fast and loose with the landscape but I'm planning to plant more trees," he said.

"I'm a tree man."

Holmes said he had a passion for landscaping and no intention of "raping and pillaging" the land.

"I'll leave that to some of the Queenstowners."

An extensive replanting programme was planned for this year, with a mixture of native and exotic plants, he said.

But Mr Carson said he wondered why Holmes was fixing what wasn't broken to begin with.

If he wanted native trees he should have worked with what was already on the land. "What's the point? What's he going to plant there? Beech trees?"

The first Mr Carson knew of the tree felling was when he heard chainsaws last Thursday. By Friday, the mix of native and exotic trees on the 1.6ha property had been felled and later buried on the site.

Mr Carson said he was not a tree hugger and said sometimes the odd tree needed to be cut down to make way for buildings. "I can understand people building a platform but if he wanted to buy a paddock why did he come into a bush area?"

Holmes said he should have spoken to Mr Carson before he undertook the landscaping.

Brian Fitzpatrick, planning manager of the Queenstown Lakes District Council entity CivicCorp, said the rules governing the zone where Holmes' house was built did not prohibit the trees being felled.

Holmes bought the property at Bobs Cove last year for a rumoured $750,000.

But another neighbour said Holmes had felled far fewer trees than other property owners in Bob's Cove. "There are people who have done far worse."

- NZPA