Council rejects mobile sauna's trading permit

Otago Daily Times

30-05-2025

A plan to operate a mobile sauna next to Lake Dunstan in Cromwell has hit a bureaucratic brick wall.
Businessman and sauna-fanatic John Ryan has failed to get the go-ahead from the Central Otago District Council or Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand (Linz) to periodically park his travelling sauna on public land beside the lake.
Mr Ryan's sauna is 2.5m by 3m, can fit 15 people and sits atop a trailer pulled by his Land Rover.
"One side has a big open window, so you can look out to the lake," Mr Ryan said.
Several weeks ago, Mr Ryan had a trial run of the sauna at Alpha Street Reserve, offering free use of it to members of the public.
"I parked up near the swimming platform there, so people could have a sauna and have a dip," he said.
"Seventeen people turned up and they all loved it."
However, Mr Ryan's application to the district council for a mobile trading permit for the venture has been declined.
"Their excuse was they want to protect the reserve", he said.
He also took his idea to Linz, which administered some of the lakeside land in Cromwell, but staff there "knocked it back".
"I don't think they fully understand what it is or how it runs."
District council parks and recreation manager Gordon Bailey confirmed the reserve-land status of the spots Mr Ryan wished to park at was the reason his application was declined.
The land in question was governed by the council's reserve management plan — which specified what could and could not go on reserves — as well as the Reserve Act 1977, he said.
The commercial rather than recreational nature of Mr Ryan's activity meant it "was not consistent" with the plan, nor the Act.
Meanwhile, although Linz had no official record of a conversation with Mr Ryan, head of Crown property Sonya Wikitera told the Otago Daily Times her staff received many inquiries about the use of Crown land for commercial businesses and were always available to talk through a person's plans before any official application to Linz was made.
"When providing advice or assessing formal applications, Linz considers the potential impact on the Crown land, public use, impact on other businesses already operating in the area, other applications which may have already been made, feedback from other agencies and the public, as well as impacts on existing infrastructure like toilets, rubbish bins and carparking," Ms Wikitera said.
Mr Ryan's sauna is wood-clad, has a chimney out the top and is heated by a "Sweaty Meg" — a custom-built wood burner sold through his other business, Roaring Meg Fires.
"They're like traditional Finnish wood-fire heaters," he said.
On the trial night, Mr Ryan had hand-held lanterns ready outside the sauna for people to take to guide them down to the lake in between stints in the sauna.
He reckoned a one-hour session was about right — 15 minutes in the heat, five minutes for a cool dip, then back to the sauna and repeat times two.
Mr Ryan is a sauna convert.
"They're amazing; good for your health. I've 'sauna-ed' every night for, oh, I don't know how long," he said.
"They help fight cardiovascular disease. They're good for sleep. There's so much research been done on saunas now."
Mr Ryan's case is not the only one where a mobile sauna has faced consenting challenges.
The Marlborough District Council has gone back and forth on its decision to reject a proposal to allow a similar set up on reserve land beside a beach in Picton.
Mr Ryan has launched a petition in an attempt to persuade the Central Otago District Council to reconsider his proposal.
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