Spat over red zone plan flares up
Campaigners calling for a sports lake to be included in Christchurch’s red zone are asking the Regeneration Minister to delay approving the plan for the area until after an Ombudsman inquiry finishes.
But Megan Woods is making no such guarantee until she has seen the completed plan, being finalised by Crown-Council planning agency Regenerate Christchurch.
About 90 per cent of the feedback on a draft version of the plan favoured a rowing lake for the area – but most of the submissions were identical.
The Ombudsman is investigating the process Regenerate used in deciding to drop the lake from the red zone plan after the East Lake Trust made a complaint in September.
It is the latest chapter in the ongoing stoush between Regenerate Christchurch and the trust, which is pushing for a 2.2-kilometre out-ofriver watersports lake to be built in the city’s residential red zone.
The draft red zone plan, released late last year, sets out how the 602 hectares of riverside land could be developed for environmental restoration, recreation, and visitor attractions.
Regenerate called for feedback on the plan in December and received 2120 submissions.
Of those, 1919 supported an outof-river watersports lake to be built in the red zone, but 1728 were preformatted responses specifically stating they supported the ecological aspirations of the proposed green spine around the river, but did not Meri Gibson East Lake Trust chairwoman support a 2.2km out-of-river flatwater facility being excluded from the plans.
Regenerate said the lake was rejected for environmental reasons, but the trust believes that decision was based on ‘‘inaccurate’’ information.
The draft plan instead proposes widening a 1km section of the Avon River to 80 metres wide to accommodate rowing and other watersports, and create a watersports festival course near Fitzgerald Rd.
East Lake Trust chairwoman Meri Gibson said these options would not be practical for the watersports community and were likely to be environmentally damaging.
She said publicly-funded Regenerate had gone ‘‘completely of the rails’’.
‘‘In our opinion, Regenerate is a $16m omnishambles that needs to be closed down as fast as possible.’’
Regenerate chairwoman Sue Sheldon said flatwater sports were a feature of the area’s history and would be part of its future, but an out-of-river lake was not identified as a preferred use for the land based on technical assessments.
The planning provisions in the draft did not exclude an out-of-river lake, but suggested changes that would mean it could be assessed and consented if it fitted in with the planning framework for the area, including environmental outcomes.
All 2120 pieces of feedback relating to the draft plan were considered separately and would inform the final plan, Sheldon said.
Regenerate was seeking consent from fellow Crown rebuild agency O¯ ta¯ karo to submit the finalised plan to Greater Christchurch Regeneration Minister Megan Woods for final approval, she said.
‘‘In our opinion, Regenerate is a $16m omnishambles that needs to be closed down as fast as possible.’’