Councillors in the New Zealand city of Wellington have unanimously voted to grant an occupancy agreement for a commercial zipline operation.

Zipline

Wellington Zipline Adventures asked to lease 900 hectares of Southern Landfill land, near the suburb of Brooklyn, with assurances that thrill-seekers would not see the dump from the new attraction. The venture now needs resource consent to proceed.

The meeting of the council's city strategy committee also agreed that any proceeds from leasing the land will be used for improving the Outer Green Belt.

The project would see four ziplines – between 178m and 575m in length – zigzag down the valley, with wooden take-off and landing decks at each end. The proposed activity is to be located up in the hills, well clear of any landfill operation areas.

As the attraction would be weather-dependent, it is estimated the zipline would be operating about 210 days each year.

WZA director Mark O'Connor said this was a monumental day for the company and a "big hurdle" had been cleared. "It's a big step for us today. It's very positive. We now have assurance of the use of the land if we need it."