435 days ago

Canterbury's mayors call for extra $1b for region's transport - but can't say what it will be spent on

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

From reporter Lee Kenny:

Canterbury’s mayors have called for an additional $1 billion to improve transport in the region, but no-one can say exactly what the extra cash would be spent on.

The funding is one of three “immediate priorities” in the Plan for Canterbury 2023-2025, which says ensuring the transport system is “fit for purpose requires significant investment”.

The document has been drawn-up by Canterbury Mayoral Forum, which is made up of the mayors of Canterbury’s 10 territorial authorities and Peter Scott, chairperson of Environment Canterbury (ECan).

It doesn’t state exactly how the extra billion would be spent, but one transport expert said although the extra detail “would be useful”, it was still a good message to send to Wellington.

A report published on Wednesday said the additional $1b for the region’s “vast transport network” is required over the next 10 years as “current funding sources do not meet present or future [...] resilience requirements”.

When asked what specific projects the $1b might fund, Hurunui District mayor Marie Black said: “At this point it’s probably not useful to think about specific details, but actually the direction that we are looking is to create a better link and help people mind-shift into that integration.”

Christchurch mayor Phil Mauger was not available for comment, while Ecan was also unable to respond to questions about what the cash would be used for.

The Mayoral Forum report said transport strongly influences economic development, “supporting supply chains that are critical for getting our exports to market and imports back to us”.

“Current funding sources from local authorities and the National Land Transport Fund will not meet current needs, particularly when faced with resilience issues.”

Although no specific concerns or solutions are stated, “there are options to be investigated”, the report said.

Christchurch transportation engineer Glen Koorey said it was good news that transport was being prioritised by the region’s mayors but greater detail “would be useful”.

Ministers often expect people to “present a case”, when they are asking for extra funding.

“Having said that, it’s probably a useful message to be able to say to Wellington, we feel we're a bit underserved.

“Canterbury has often felt underserved in terms of funding, Wellington often seems to do better for a region the same size, if not smaller,” he said.

“I can understand (the Canterbury Mayors) asking for a bigger piece of the pie.”

The Plan for Canterbury 2023-2025 also calls for improved flood prevention and better policies to attract skilled workers to region, as Canterbury’s gross domestic product (GDP) per person “lags (behind) the national average”.

Canterbury is New Zealand’s largest region by land area, with 78,000km of rivers and streams, which present “substantial risk of major flooding events”, the report said.

The mayors are calling on the Government for “permanent co-investment in flood protection”, to shift the focus from disaster relief and recovery to mitigation of flood risks, reducing the long-term costs.

The Rangitata River burst its banks in December 2019 causing widespread flooding, while extreme rain in May 2021 led to a regional state of emergency and hundreds of evacuations.

These recent events demonstrated how vulnerable parts of the region are to flooding, said Gary Kircher, mayor for Waitaki District, which also spans Otago.

“Flooding has impacted us probably more than other natural disasters,” he said.

“Just last July and August there were multiple flood events around Omarama and Otematata, and we have those challenges across the region.”

The mayors will travel to Wellington next month to outline their aims to ministers.

“Having one voice is going to be more effective and benefit all of us,” Kircher said.

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1 day ago

We’ve adopted our Long-Term Plan!

The Team from Environment Canterbury

🙌 Your feedback helped land some of our key decisions in our 10-year work plan and budget, known as the Long-Term Plan.

📊 1,300 individuals and organisations, some of whom represented large sections of the community made written submissions, and 153 spoke to us during hearings.

Councillors had to weigh up the need for action to protect the environment, with the cost pressures we’re all facing.

Read the full news story here 👉 bit.ly... and hear Acting Chair Craig Pauling’s thoughts on how it played out youtu.be...

#Kaitiakitanga #Māiatanga  #Whanaungatanga

8 days ago

New Canterbury bypass set to be a toll road

Nicole Mathewson Reporter from The Press

By David Hill, Local Democracy Reporter

Motorists could be paying a toll to drive a new bypass on State Highway 1, in North Canterbury, once it's complete.

Meanwhile, planned safety improvements to the area have been canned for now, as officials review the planned work as part of the Woodend Bypass design.

The Government is considering a proposal for its promised roads of national significance to be partially funded by a toll.

NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) said the Woodend Bypass has been confirmed as one of the first five roads of national significance and that a safety review will be undertaken.

Associate Transport Minister Matt Doocey said the Government has backed recommendations by NZTA to introduce tolls in its Government Policy Statement on Land Transport.

‘‘As a Government, we are open to a wide range of funding tools to ensure we are able to deliver the roads that will allow kiwis and freight to get to where they want to go quickly and safely.’’

Safety improvements for Woodend’s Main North Rd were announced in December 2022, as part of a $35 million funding package for State Highway 1 between Saltwater Creek and Cam River, with work due to begin this year.

NZTA had previously advised the safety improvements were on hold, pending the revised policy statement on Land Transport.

Doocey said it made sense to have another look at the work programme.

‘‘When you look at the Woodend safety improvement programme, it was in response to Labour cancelling the bypass, so it is right to relook at that programme in the context of the new motorway.’’

The former Government included the Woodend Bypass in its policy statement on Land Transport announced in August 2023.

Funding was also announced in December 2022 for a $6 million project, including cycleways linking Kaiapoi, Woodend and Pegasus, as part of NZTA’s Transport Choices Programme.

But the programme was axed last December by the new Government.

Doocey said the proposed cycleways and an under-pass at the Pegasus roundabout would be considered as part of the final bypass design.

‘‘When you look at the Christchurch Northern Corridor, the (Christchurch to Kaiapoi) cycleway was an important part of it, so I think it would make sense to consider the cycleways and an underpass as part of the bypass design.’’

Woodend-Sefton Community Board chairperson Shona Powell said she welcomed news about the bypass, but the safety improvements were needed now.

‘‘It will take several years to build the bypass. It is just getting frustrating.’’

Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon said he had been seeking clarity about the promised safety improvements without success.

But he welcomed Doocey’s comments that the cycleway and under-pass would be considered as part of the final design.

‘‘It makes total sense to construct this as part of the works and I know the community would be thrilled to have these included.

‘‘This is an incredibly important project for our district and I am delighted by the depth of consideration the Government is giving to it.’’

He would also like to see a cycleway clip-on added to the State Highway 1 bridge over the Ashley-Rakahuri River.

The council has been planning the Kaiapoi to Woodend and Woodend to Pegasus cycleways for several years, along with a Rangiora (Southbrook) cycleway.

Proposed safety improvements had included road widening, wider centrelines and safety barriers, and reducing the speed to 60kph at the Pegasus roundabout, which would have become one lane with raised safety platforms.

Traffic lights were also proposed at the Rangiora-Woodend Rd intersection, roundabouts at the Woodend Beach Rd and Williams St intersections and a crossing refuge for people using bus stops near Pineacres.

■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

3 days ago

Kaitlyn

The Team from Humans of Christchurch Ōtautahi

"I've been doing compost workshops for the community for four years. But I guess composting for like the past eight years.

It originally started because we moved and our house came with the compost bin. I was curious to know what it was, so we started composting, but like, just chucking stuff and not really knowing what we're doing. Then pumpkins and potatoes just started growing out of it.
I got into gardening during lockdown. My French teacher gave me some broccoli seeds, and I grew those and then obviously, you go through the journey of discovering soils are really important to grow healthy kai.

When I was in Year 13, I was volunteering at an orchard and I ran my first compost workshop. It was pretty cool. And then people just wanted me to keep doing them. Me and my sister got an internship at the Council doing compost education for the community but my compost passion actually came from hearing about Kaicycle's composting programme in Wellington. I want to set up a composting business like that.

Me and my sister started Compost Club at Uni last year. Our main aim is to make composting more accessible and commonplace on campus, especially for students because we find that students want to compost, but they don't know how or they don’t have the resources. We go to their flat and we run a mini workshop for them, come back three weeks later, check out how it's going.

I've taken a break this semester from burnout.

I just find it hard to say no, you get to that position where your body makes you say, no, I can't do any more. I feel like in the environmental space people burn out a lot. I guess why I've struggled with saying no, is because I feel like I can change the world. But no, I can't! We need everyone to do their little part to make a change.

I'm really passionate about cooking and growing healthy kai and having a slow life. And I haven't done that yet. But I'm working towards it."

- Kaitlyn

View more stories, or nominate someone: @humansofchch
www.humansofchch.org...

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