Gondola firm penalised for role in landslip

THE company behind a gondola lift and other leisure attractions on Swansea's Kilvey Hill said it took its responsibility to the environment very seriously after being fined for its part in a landslip in New Zealand.

- RICHARD YOULE Senior local democracy reporter [e-mail]

Skyline Enterprises Ltd is working through planning conditions as part of the approval for the visitor attraction overlooking the city it received from Swansea Council last year. They include one about slope stability.

Last month the company was fined in Christchurch, New Zealand, after pleading guilty to a charge along with two other companies to an offence under the country's Resource Management Act. The three companies were responsible for unlawfully discharging sediment and construction spoil onto land which overlooked a community in Queenstown, South Island, between March and September 2023.

During very heavy rainfall one night in September of that year a significant quantity of this material slid down and onto a street leading to the evacuation of 41 residents.

The material had been excavated on behalf of Skyline Enterprises as part of a major upgrade of its Queenstown gondola attraction. It was stored outside the area consented for this purpose and lacked sediment and erosion controls.