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The twisted and distorted bridge that became a symbol for the power of the Canterbury earthquakes has a new incarnation. The Medway Street footbridge was officially opened to the public today, the second of three new pedestrian bridges to be built in the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor. For the first time since the earthquakes, the…
Christchurch City Council is meeting at 9.30am on Thursday 12 May. The main items on the agenda for the public part of the meeting are: The monthly reports from the Community Boards outlining the initiatives and issues they have recently considered. A report from the Banks Peninsula Community Board that recommends the Council direct staff…
Christchurch residents can help clean up the city’s waterways on Saturday simply by picking up five pieces of rubbish while doing their usual weekend activities. The organisers of Saturday’s annual Mother of All Clean-Ups are running a tandem campaign called High Five, I Can Pick Up Five to encourage people to pick up five pieces…
Christchurch City Council is backing Government plans to introduce a container return scheme and is calling for it to be implemented without delay. It has made a submission on the Ministry for the Environment’s Transforming Recycling discussion document voicing its support for the idea of a container return scheme. Such a scheme would shift the…
The Styx Living Laboratory Trust is marking its 20 year anniversary this month. The Trust was set up in 2002 to achieve Vison 3 of the Christchurch City Council document Styx Vision 2000-2040, which is to create a living laboratory that focusses on research and learning in the Pūharakekenui/Styx catchment. “The trustees, staff and volunteers,…
Cruise ships are likely to return to Akaroa in November but there will be fewer of them than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Environment Canterbury, Christchurch City Council, ChristchurchNZ, and the Lyttelton Port Company recently briefed the Banks Peninsula Community Board about the likely return of cruise ships to Canterbury waters, explaining what preparations are in…
The first work on a series of stormwater basins in the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor (ŌARC) has begun, with construction of a nine-hectare flood management area under way beside Anzac Drive and Pages Road. Christchurch City Council’s Head of Three Waters, Helen Beaumont, says the Waitaki Street stormwater and flood management basin will have a…
It is full steam ahead for the expansion of Halswell’s popular miniature railway. The Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board has agreed that the Canterbury Society of Model and Experimental Engineers (CSMEE) can increase the size of the area they lease at Halswell Domain for their miniature railway. The railway operates every Sunday afternoon, weather permitting, and…
Work starts next week on constructing a new lookout and upgrading the sealed carpark opposite the historic 1914 rest house Sign of the Bellbird. It’s one of four rest houses built along the Summit Road by conservationist Henry (Harry) George Ell. The project is an initiative of the Summit Road Society, a grassroots charitable organisation…
Councillors will consider more than 500 submissions from the community as hearings begin on Christchurch City Council’s Draft Annual Plan 2022/23. The Draft Annual Plan, which outlines the Council’s spending on projects and day-to-day services over the next financial year and how they’ll be financed, was released for public comment in March. Five hundred and…
Christchurch was buzzing over the weekend as residents and visitors turned out in force for the second annual Te Pūtahi Open Christchurch festival of architecture. A range of building styles, ages and uses were on offer with mid-century Christchurch Modern buildings proving popular, as was the Bull O’Sullivan designed educational building, Te Hohepa Kōhanga Reo….
Mushrooms are a-growing at the Fungi Farm in the Ōtākaro Avon River Corridor Regeneration Area. The project is an initiative of the Riverlution Collective and driven by the Richmond Community Garden, but spokesperson Hayley Guglietta says it will take a couple of years for the fungi populations to get well established. “They’ve got to have…
Independent testing to better understand the odours from around the fire-damaged Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant shows the stench is largely due to sulphurous gases. However, the concentration of the gases measured last week were at levels well below the Worksafe exposure standards. Christchurch City Council Head of Three Waters Helen Beaumont says a specialist air…
Tīrama Mai will brighten up Ōtautahi-Christchurch this winter with a range of innovative lighting installations and artworks on display throughout the central city. The lighting festival is free to attend and will be held from Friday 24 June to Sunday 3 July. Christchurch City Council Events and Arts Manager Lucy Blackmore says this year’s event…
Public transport users in Christchurch are benefitting from a new real-time information (RTI) system that enables them to find out exactly when the next bus is going to arrive. Over the past 12 months Environment Canterbury and Christchurch City Council have been working with technology provider NEC NZ Limited to upgrade the real-time information system…
Christchurch youngsters will find it easier to play both winter and summer sports thanks to a new agreement between the sporting codes that creates a gap at the end of each season. The gap will also give Christchurch City Council more time between the sporting seasons to prepare the playing fields. “With winter and summer…
A planned project to construct low stopbanks along part of the Ōpāwaho Heathcote River may not go ahead. Following severe flooding along the Ōpāwaho Heathcote River in July 2017, Christchurch City Council resolved to investigate the technical feasibility of installing low stopbanks along the river between Colombo Street and Radley Street to reduce the flood…
A bug hotel shaped like a whare has been installed in the Ōtakaro Avon River Corridor to help boost the population of native bees. Christchurch City Council Urban Rangers made and installed the hotel in the Horseshoe Lake regeneration area of the Ōtakaro Avon River Corridor (OARC) in a bid to establish more colonies of…
Environment Canterbury is reducing the cost of cash fares for buses to and from Christchurch Airport to co-incide with the opening of international borders. This means that customers who board a Metro bus at the Christchurch International Airport will pay the same cash fare as for any Metro bus trip within Christchurch. Previously, cash fares…
Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel says the Government’s announcement that it is making changes to its three waters reforms fails to address one of the key funding concerns raised by local authorities. “The Working Group’s recommendation that the Crown needs to confirm the size of investment required to address issues of historic degradation of waterways and…
Christchurch City Council has agreed in principle that it will relocate the organics processing plant in Bromley to an alternative location. It has today instructed Council staff to advance options for a new , as yet unidentified, site for the organics processing, which is where the material collected in the green wheelie bins gets turned…
Thorough investigations have revealed there is no quick fix to the stench coming from the fire-damaged Christchurch Wastewater Treatment Plant. “If there was a quick fix we would have used it by now because we all want the stench gone – it’s horrible and it is very distressing for those residents who live close to…
Nature fans in Christchurch are being encouraged to join in the 2022 global bio-blitz City Nature Challenge that begins tomorrow. From Friday 29 April to 2 May 2022, keen nature watchers in Christchurch and six other New Zealand cities and regions will join tens of thousands of people across the globe to look for nature…
The New Zealand flag that flew after Sir Edmund Hillary and his party reached the South Pole will be retrieved from Christ Church Cathedral this week. The flag is the last of more than 30 flags and colours held by the Cathedral to be retrieved. The other flags were removed after the 2011 earthquake but…
He Puna Taimoana is officially one of the best sustainable tourism businesses in New Zealand. The Christchurch City Council-owned and operated beachfront hot pools in New Brighton have earned a Qualmark Gold Sustainable Tourism Business Award. The gold award recognise the best sustainable tourism businesses in New Zealand. It is only given to those businesses…
A report recommending that Christchurch City Council look for a new site for the city’s organics processing plant will be considered by the Mayor and Councillors on Thursday. A report recommending that Christchurch City Council look for a new site for the city’s organics processing plant will be considered by the Mayor and Councillors on…
Inspired by the story of a grieving man following the 2011 Japan tsunami, the organisation behind the River of Flowers project has installed 12 telephones along the river to talk your worries away. “It’s an art installation for our wellbeing,” says Flourish Kia Puāwai Co-Director Michelle Whitaker. “A fun way to do something meaningful as…
Feature documentary ‘Behrouz’ will have its world premiere in Christchurch in June. The screening at the Isaac Theatre Royal will be held in partnership with Christchurch City Council, Screen CanterburyNZ and WORD Christchurch. The documentary Behrouz tells the story of award-winning Kurdish journalist and writer Behrouz Boochani. He fled the Iranian regime, seeking asylum in…
Work will begin in early May on stage one of works to install peak hour bus priority lanes on Lincoln Road, between Moorhouse Avenue and Whiteleigh Avenue. Christchurch City Council Head of Transport Lynette Ellis says the bus lanes will improve the reliability of public transport in the southwest of Christchurch. “This area is growing…
Some of the highlights at this year’s Te Pūtahi Open Christchurch festival of architecture are hidden in plain sight. Organised by Te Pūtahi – Centre for Architecture and City-Making, Open Christchurch returns for a weekend-long celebration of the city’s special spaces on 30 April and 1 May – and among them are some hidden gems you…