Cycleway programme accelerated
A last-ditch attempt to delay the completion of Christchurch’s $300 million cycleway programme has failed, with the city council deciding to accelerate it instead.
A group of five Christchurch city councillors – Sam MacDonald, James Gough, Phil Mauger, Catherine Chu and Aaron Keown – wanted the council to defer work on all cycleways not already fully government funded for five years.
However, the amendment was ruled out of order by mayor Lianne Dalziel during deliberations on the council’s 10-year budget, the longterm plan (LTP), yesterday.
She said the council has to consult again with the public before deferring the cycleways, because it was the opposite of what the council had proposed in its draft LTP.
This stance was questioned by councillors Gough and MacDonald, who were frustrated at not being able to debate the deferral.
But Dalziel said her ruling was not debatable. ‘‘That is the one advantage I have sitting here. I will end this discussion here.’’
Gough continued to question her, but she said she wanted councillors to respect her ruling. MacDonald said he was being ‘‘deliberately stymied’’ and was disappointed the council could not have a serious conversation about deferring the cycleways.
‘‘This is one of the worst things I’ve seen in 18 months on council.’’
Gough said making changes in response to public feedback was the point of the process.
But Cr Sara Templeton said she was disappointed the organisation was being accused of a lack of transparency because the time to make a significant change to the LTP was before it went out to public consultation.
She said it was not Dalziel’s fault, nor the organisation’s, that councillors had not used the correct process to bring this up. Last week, she accused the five councillors of being in climate change ‘‘denial’’ by wanting to delay a project that would lead to reduced emissions.
The council decided yesterday to complete its 101-kilometre network of cycleways by 2028 – one year earlier than proposed in the draft LTP, but still 11 years later than expected when the network was first proposed in 2013.
It also decided to bring forward a cycleway connection from Westmorland to the Nor’West Arc cycleway from 2031 to 2025.
Most councillors voted to spend
$242m over the next 10 years on cycling projects. This was not supported by Gough, Chu, MacDonald, Keown and Mauger.
It would spend about $185m completing the network in the next
10 years, on top of the $116m it had already spent. Ratepayers would front up with $55m of that cost, with $71.5m covered by the Government’s shovel-ready funding and the rest by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency.
Christchurch residents will be charged for excess water use from next month, though no fines will be issued for the first year as people get used to the scheme.
The charge was one of many points discussed by the Christchurch City Council yesterday as it ratified and voted on final amendments to the city’s 10-year budget, known formally as the Long Term Plan (LTP).
The council also decided not to decommission Wharenui Pool (though funding past 2022 remains unclear); and to grant the Arts Centre $5.5 million; to keep the Riccarton bus lounge open; and to retain the mobile library for now.
Although the council intended to start the excess water use fine next month, Councillor Sara Templeton said no fines would be dished out in the first year, to allow people to get used to the change. Those who used more than an average of 700 litres a day over a three-month period would be stung by the new charge. The average Christchurch property used 540 litres per day. The charge would be $1.35 for every 1000 extra litres used. During public consultation, the council said 20,000-30,000 households would likely be affected – up to 20 per cent of households the council supplied water to. Mayor Lianne Dalziel, who supported the charge, said it would lead to people changing their behaviour. In past summers, Christchurch has resorted to water restrictions due to the demand on water infrastructure. The council has forecast the charge could change people’s habits to the point that $46m of infrastructure spending could be saved. Councillor James Gough, who did not support the charge, felt it was using ‘‘a sledgehammer to crack a nut’’.
He said it was not right the same 700-litre limit was imposed on all properties, regardless of size.
Councillor Yani Johanson also did not support the charge and said the 700-litre limit was too low.
Gough and Johanson were joined by councillors Catherine Chu, Phil Mauger, Aaron Keown and Sam MacDonald in opposing the scheme. The vote passed 11 to 6.
The council also signed off its revised plan for Wharenui Pool. The council had planned to decommission the pool but after pleas from the community, it will instead negotiate a lease with the swim club and continue funding the pool until 2022.