Businesses anti one-way idea
Proposals for transforming a section of road into a one-way street in the Christchurch suburb of St Albans have local businesses concerned about how it will impact their livelihoods.
Christchurch City Council staff met with Edgeware businesses in late February to present two concepts for the Colombo St and Edgeware Rd intersection, which are being prepared for public consultation. The work would be part of the Edgeware Village Master Plan.
One option would turn the northern end of Colombo St into a southbound one-way stretch, so it could be used as a shared space that would be more people-friendly and could be easily closed off for markets and events.
St Albans Business Association chair Malcolm Pearce said local businesses were ‘‘not keen’’ on having the section of Colombo St converted to one way, and would rather see the efforts put into other beautifications for the village.
He said it would decrease access to the shopping in the village, which had just been through ‘‘so much disruption’’ while a cycleway was installed.
‘‘We don’t want any more disruption to access for people, to the local businesses.’’
Pearce said the council had announced the idea ‘‘out of the blue’’. He said businesses were happy to work with the council to come up with a mutually beneficial option, and welcomed the council’s input to improve the area.
FreshChoice Edgeware supermarket owner Stephen Anderson said the retailers all agreed they were not in favour of the one-way idea as it would have a ‘‘huge disruption on the business area and the flow of traffic’’.
He said he believed a good shared space was possible without converting the area to a one-way, and part of the street could be closed at times to host events like markets.
The council needed to listen to the businesses because there had been huge disruption in the area since the earthquakes due to roadworks and cycleway installation, so they needed to all be in agreement to move forward with the village, Anderson said.
‘‘I appreciate what the council’s doing in the village, but we need to agree on the way we can best move forward, for the retailers and the public and our customers.’’
Council transport planning and delivery manager Lynette Ellis said residents and businesses from Edgeware Village had been to a workshop and asked to provide feedback on the shared space and trial concept, which would be given to the local community board before any further work was done.
She said the village had a lot of pedestrian activity and could benefit from a pedestrian priority space, and Colombo St had low traffic volumes, which supported the development of that type of space.
A September 2017 council traffic count for the block of Colombo St between Edgeware Rd and Canon St recorded an average of 3737 vehicles each day.
Ellis said the timeframe for the shared space was still being considered and would be developed following feedback from the community board.