Christchurch Botanic Gardens wins Supreme Ellerslie Award

It was a real achievement that the Christchurch Botanic Gardens team won the Judges Supreme Award at this year’s Ellerslie International Flower Show with a garden of fungi, mould and lichen.  This expertise and talent is available to Christchurch residents everyday in our world-class Botanic Gardens.  

Life and Death was a display of the plant kingdom in light, sound, movement and texture, bringing together elements of sensory inspiration.

Boy Racers - Cruising Bylaw:  have your say

The proposed Cruising Bylaw 2010 went out for consultation on 18 February. The new bylaw proposes to prohibit cruising on all multi-lane roads, the whole of Main Road (from Ferry Road to Marriner Street, Sumner) and all of Esplanade, Sumner, under the control of the Council on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights each week, and on the night before a statutory holiday, from 10pm to 5am on each of those nights. Submissions on the proposal close on 25 March 2010. The proposal would be fines from $150 to $1,000.

Canterbury Regional Economic Development Strategy (CREDS)

The regional economic governance group, Canterbury Economic Development Limited, (CED Co) considered the applications for projects to deliver on the priorities it identified through CREDS. 

The following projects were identified to be put forward to NZTE for funding:

·         Canterbury Water Management Strategy – Water Infrastructure Options $200,000

·         North Canterbury Rural Technology Transfer Project $98,000

·         South Canterbury on Farm Value Add Project $49,000

·         South Canterbury Starlight Observatory – development of astro-tourism industry based at Tekapo $98,000

·         Canterbury Food and Wine Trail – development of 3-4 day itineraries $98,000

·         Rural broadband $98,000·       

Canterbury Trade Alliance $59,000 NZTE has now indicated that a number of these projects are not eligible for its funding.  The CED Co. Board is now looking to identify further suitable projects to forward to NZTE. 

Cycleway developments in the city 

     North Railway

A cycleway extension from Northcote Road to Tuckers Road is being developed along the rail tracks and will join the existing cycleway south of Northcote Road.  

     Kilmore Street

Cycle lanes are being developed on both sides of Kilmore Street, between Fitzgerald Avenue and Madras Street, to remove a ‘pinch point’ near the shops.

     Stanmore Road

Cycle lanes are being developed on both sides of Stanmore Road to link with the existing ones on Avonside Drive.  

     Linwood Avenue

Much needed improvements to the Linwood Avenue and Aldwins Road intersection will be made. This will include cycle lanes on both sides of the road connecting up to existing lanes at each end and marked cycle waiting areas at the intersection.

     Wairakei Road

Cycle lanes will be installed on both sides of Wairakei Road, stretching from the railway to almost reach Greers Road.

Tram extension project

Christchurch trams are a city icon so it is good to report that work on extending the line in time for the Rugby World Cup is on track. The tram extension project is in the detailed design/tender stage.  The City Mall contractor is making good progress in the High Street section of the Mall and is on target to install rail across the Colombo/Hereford intersection and into Cathedral Square at Easter 2010. Paving is now being lifted in City Mall’s Stewart Plaza so tram foundations and tracks can be laid.  

Registrations of Interest were invited for the overall construction and two contractors have subsequently been invited to tender for the project. The contract likely to be awarded in April.

Rugby World Cup 2011

Planning is underway for next year’s Rugby World Cup and we are working to put in place the programme of activity which was included in the Christchurch bid.  

Cathedral Square will host an official RWC 2011 Fan Zone for the duration of the tournament. The focal points are the Dome, which will be known as the “World Ruck”, a big screen for screening the games and entertainment through the period of the tournament. The World Ruck will be a seven days a week hub for information on the tournament. The entertainment area outside the World Ruck will showcase some of Christchurch’s best music and performing arts. 

Hospitality precincts throughout the city will be encouraged to host internationally banded fan zone where each precinct will adopt a team/nationality and be the supporting hub for those games.

The Council is coordinating other event activity in the city using connections such as Southern Opera and partners in New Zealand Cup and Show Week.

Cranmer Square Camping

While not the highest priority issue facing our city the Cranmer Square camper vans issue is one that has attracted a significant amount of publicity and raised a lot of anger.  There is an issue here about what sort of city we want to have, and while we want to welcome tourists and visitors in our city we don’t want some of the extremes that have been reported.  As a Council we have declared camping illegal and systems are being set up to ensure it can be enforced. 

NZ Transport Authority approved "No Camping" signs have now been erected in Cranmer Square and enforcement commenced on 19 February. This included supplying a flyer informing vehicle passengers of the prohibition of camping. The new enforcement processes developed and implemented for this area include the contracting of ADT Security for night time enforcement and new written warning notices for Parking Enforcement Officers to use. Additionally, Cranmer Square residents have received a letter informing them of the Council decision and the processes to follow if they need to report any infractions to the prohibition. Customer Services has new FAQs to enable accurate tracking of the Request For Service generated from unauthorised camping, and a new webpage has been created informing visitors about camping procedures in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula. 

New Christchurch Civic Building

The new Civic Building this month was being awarded the highest possible rating for environmental design by the New Zealand Green Building Council. The New Zealand Green Building Council gave the new building the maximum six Green Star Office Design rating, the building achieving a record 83 points under the Green Star rating system. That makes it the greenest building in New Zealand and represents significant annual energy and cost savings. This is still on time and on budget. 

Ocean Outfall

Ocean Outfall will be officially launched on 24 March 2010. This represents a state-of-the-art sewerage system befitting a modern delivered within the budget and in time to meet the expiry of the consents for the current estuary outfall.

Riccarton/Wigram street work and construction

•  Picton Avenue                                                            Construction
• Bus Priority Project (Hornby - Riccarton Route)            Scheme assessment 
• Halswell Domain Car Park                                             Detailed design
• Haytons Drain Culvert                                                  Detailed design
• Riccarton Main Drain (Wainui to Matipo)                      Construction
• Wigram Village Green Playground                                 Tender
• Owaka/Awatea Link                                                     Design
• Lower Milns Basin                                                        Design
• Templeton Domain additional skate item                      Construction
• Wigram Retention Basin Capacity Upgrade                   Design
• Burbank Reserve path                                                  Design
• John Oliver Reserve path                                             Design
• Upper Riccarton Domain path reseal                             Design
• Awatea Basin                                                              Construction
• Canterbury Park                                                          Construction
• Wilmers Pumpstation                                                  Preliminary Design
• Matai Street watermains renewal                                Investigation
• Lyndon Street watermains renewal                              Investigation
• Cashmere Road new watermains                                  Investigation
• Hickery Place new watermains                                     Investigation