Month: August 2021

Alert Level 3: What it means for us

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This week’s planned information days for the Wheels to Wings cycleway, along with a briefing, workshop, and hearings, have been postponed. “As there has been a high level of engagement with this project it is important that we have the information days when people feel comfortable attending and have the time to consider the information. There will still be an opportunity to give further feedback as planned on the additional design work we’ve done when we hold the information days at a later date.”

Click through for further information:
https://ccc.govt.nz/the-council/haveyoursay/show/375

Wheels to Wings – Papanui ki Waiwhetū Major Cycleway

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When Christchurch moves to Alert Level 3 next week, Council facilities will remain closed. “Facilities such as libraries and sports and recreation centres won’t re-open until we are in Alert Level 2” says Mayor Lianne Dalziel. Click through for more information:
https://newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/christchurch-to-move-to-alert-level-3-next-week

Christchurch to move to Alert Level 3 next week

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Last week the City Council approved a time extension for the trial of the bus priority lanes on Cranford Street. Staff requested the extension so that any final decision could be coordinated with other design work currently underway in the area east of Cranford Street (see Newsline link here). This decision was the subject of a subsequent opinion column in The Press by Mike Yardley. In the post below, Mike Davidson – Councillor for Papanui provides some further explanation of the purpose of the trial.

The opinion piece by Mike Yardley is a typical whine piece from him….negative and anti-Council! He either didn’t know why the trial is in place or wants to mislead people.
Here are a few facts about the peak time bus lane trial. The reason for the trial was to look at the impact on the transport network, not to look at patronage uptake. This trial is not a trail for the new express bus service from Waimakariri.
Council had originally wanted a year long trial, but because of the concern on the impact on the wider network, a 3 month trial was agreed to. The trial showed that the wider network was not impacted by the bus lane, so therefore staff requested the extension, so we can have 1 years worth of data when we make a final decision .
Patronage numbers were not required or relevant to the decision we were making and not one Councillor asked staff for patronage data prior to the meeting, even though we had the report well in advance of the meeting. It was noted in the report that Council did not have the patronage data – just one query from a Councillor before the meeting would have given Council staff time to get it from ECan, instead the waited for the public meeting to grandstand.
The majority of Councillors were happy with the information provided by staff to make an informed decision.
The one piece of data that helps inform if a bus lane is effective is journey time. This information has been asked for in the past, was provided and was positive.

In regard to the clearway, you only have to look at Curletts Road to see what happens when you install a peak-time clearway… you get 4 lanes 24/7. We also know that increasing capacity creates induced demand and although there may be a small gain at the very start, it doesn’t take long to lose the gain and have congestion over both lanes.
Also with this stretch of road, it’s not a capacity problem, it is the intersections, especially Cranford/Innes. Having a clearway might not give the benefits people think it will, but will completely sever this community more than what this motorway project has already done.
The one thing this community has been very vocal about is saying no to the clearway.

Council has a small number of Councillors that have a habit of voting against initiatives that focus on community, the environment, climate change mitigation, etc. and a media commentator that comes across as their personal cheerleader…Twisting things and misleading the public.

Council made the right decision on continuing this trail and comments that Council staff withheld information or dropped the data ball are completely false.

So what do we know. The small section of bus lane on Cranford Street is creating 60 seconds of journey time savings. and overall the express bus from Tram Rd to the bus exchange in town is taking less than 17 minutes. That is the information that needs to be shared widely not some lies about Council staff withholding data from Councillors.

I also wrote a letter to the editor in response to Mike Yardley’s opinion piece that I see didn’t make today’s paper, although two anti letters did. I assume it was because I sent it just before 3 and will appear in tomorrow’s paper.

I will now take my starry eyes outside, smell the flowers and enjoy the rest of this beautiful day 🙂

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At the meeting on 20 August 2021, the Waipapa/Papanui-Innes Community Board: approved the installation of a bus stop seat on Wairakei Road near Greers Road; approved a Discretionary Response Fund grant to St Albans School towards their traffic wardens; and discussed the Area Report on issues and initiatives current within the Board area. The Board will next meet on Friday 3 September. Click through to read the full minutes:
https://christchurch.infocouncil.biz/Open/2021/08/PICB_20210820_MIN_5623_AT.PDF

christchurch.infocouncil.biz

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Earlier this month the Waipapa/Papanui-Innes Community Board received a public briefing from Christchurch City Council staff on rules regarding housing intensification. Click through for more information, including video from the briefing and a copy of the presentation:
https://simonbritten.com/2021/08/21/board-briefed-on-housing-intensification/

Board briefed on housing intensification

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Think Papanui’s curator Simon Britten was live on Facebook discussing essential services in the Papanui area, and some other local news.
Useful links:
What’s open in the Papanui area (Alert Level 3 or 4): https://thinkpapanui.nz/covid-19
Waipapa/Papanui-Innes Community Board briefing on housing intensification: https://simonbritten.com/2021/08/21/board-briefed-on-housing-intensification/
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What’s open in the Papanui area? – Think Papanui

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All public playgrounds are CLOSED during COVID Alert Level 4. The Council has not taped off playgrounds at this stage – this will be reassessed depending on the news tomorrow with respect to changes to alert levels. See the Council’s post for more information.

All playgrounds are CLOSED during Level 4. 🚧 At this stage we are not taping off playgrounds as it will take longer than the lockdown itself and requires significant resource to be deployed. We are carefully monitoring the Government’s messaging regarding lockdown and levels. If the Government extends the Level 4 lockdown status for a week or more, or sends us into Level 3, then we will assess and address signage and other means of preventing use of facilities in due course. If you are unsure about any of the Alert Level 4 restrictions be sure to check out the Covid-19 website here 👉 https://covid19.govt.nz/alert-levels-and-updates/alert-level-4/

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