Council urged to prioritise children by going ahead with cycleway plan
A proposed cycleway in front of a Christchurch secondary school could still go ahead, following community pleas not to ditch the $3.5 million project.
Work on the cycleway, linking Te Aratai College with two other major cycle routes, will now be “paused” rather than “stopped”.
The tweaked decision means the project, along with other cycleway connections in Westmorland, Simeon St and Aidanfield, could still be included for funding in the upcoming 10-year budget, the long term plan (LTP).
Christchurch City Council was forced to rethink a number of projects aimed at making it easier to walk, cycle or use public transport after the new Government cancelled millions of dollars in promised Transport Choices funding.
Council staff had proposed stopping work on the three cycleway connections and work to improve roads in Bromley, but a compromise was reached at a council meeting yesterday.
There is still no money to complete the projects, but money could be added following public consultation on the LTP, which opens next month.
The decision was made after impassioned pleas from climate advocates and a father of a student at Te Aratai.
Dermot Coffey, a GP at Canterbury University student health centre and a parent of two children at Te Aratai, said not building the cycleway was “a little retrograde and a little 20th-century”.
“It’s hard to imagine a project that could be more needed than this one.”
He said the school’s roll had almost doubled in five years to around 1200, but the students were being put in danger on a daily basis just trying to get there.
Political scientist and climate advocate Professor Bronwyn Hayward, who has been working with Te Aratai students, said a cycleway outside the school would save lives.
She urged the council to not go ahead with a plan to beautify Condell Ave in Christchurch’s west and instead priortise children in the east.
“It will make an enormous difference to lives. We don’t get many chances to save lives.”
Hayward was referring to plans by the council to restart work on projects that were previously deferred so staff could fast-track the Transport Choices projects, including work on Condell Ave and Glandovey Rd in the west.
Work would also restart on a connection to the Uni-Cycle cycleway, which runs from Canterbury University to the city and on section one of the Ōtākaro Avon major cycleway.
School Strike for Climate Christchurch spokesperson Aurora Garner Randolph said it was “absolutely ridiculous” to delay a cycleway near a college in a low-income area.
She urged councillors to think very hard around the decision and vote in a way that prioritised young people.
Cr Sara Templeton said that nationally and internationally, poorer suburbs missed out on good infrastructure and often had lower car ownership.
She said that if the council went ahead with the Te Aratai cycleway, it would contribute 0.037% to the rates, which was a tiny amount compared to the enormous benefits it would bring.
The Government came under fire from some councillors, who criticised its move to pull out of commitments made by the previous Government.
Cr Mark Peters said no-one wanted to pause or delay these projects and he hoped central Government would listen to the council’s frustration as it tried to accommodate the new political will.