Dunedin knitting group temporarily shut down by council over lack of resource consent
A Dunedin woman's knitting community was forced to close after the council determined she needed resource consent to teach classes and sell wool from her home.
Jan Aitken created Crofters Yarn, a community knitting group operating from her garden studio in Dunedin, offering classes and selling wool to participants while donating hundreds of handmade items to local charities. In April, the council informed her that teaching and retail activities required resource consent under the District Plan, forcing her to temporarily close. After a week of closure at alternative venues and with pro-bono help from planning consultants and council financial support for consent costs, Aitken received resource consent in July and resumed operations, with attendance tripling in the process.
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‘I felt sick’: How one Dunedin knitting group fell foul of the law
Knitting is not supposed to be a dangerous hobby, but it led one Dunedin woman into a rather woolly situation. Knitting is in Jan Aitken’s blood. As a child living on a South Otago sheep farm, she grew up watching…