New plan for Park, Gardens
 Council staff are preparing a master plan for Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens, following public consultation last year that revealed the need for a more integrated approach to managing Christchurch’s largest central city green space.
Prior to community consultation in August and September last year, the Council had been looking to prepare a master plan for the Gardens and to update the existing Hagley Park Management Plan.
“While the new planning process is taking longer, it means that future changes in the Park and Gardens will be linked to a vision for the entire area that has come from the community,” says Michael Aitken, the Council’s Greenspace Manager.
“The two areas will of course retain their own special identities but be connected in the way they develop.”
“What plant collections we have, how aging trees in the Park and Gardens are managed, how people use various spaces, heritage and educational values of the area and what facilities we provide are among the things that will be considered in the master-planning process.”
The master plan is intended to be presented to the Council by the end of the year. Early next year, public comment will be invited on this plan and on management plans for the Botanic Gardens and Hagley Park, with final sign-off from the Council expected to come within the following few months.
Once the master plan and management plans have been ratified, changes will be able to be made. “We won’t know what these projects will be until agreement has been reached on the master plan,” Mr Aitken says.
“While we know that there are changes that need to made, taking just a little longer to plan will give us much better direction for improving and maintaining Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens for the long term,” the Council’s Botanical Services Manager, Jeremy Hawker, says.
Thousands of daffodils are now blooming in the Botanic Gardens Daffodil Woodland on Hagley Avenue. Keep an eye out for them as you travel past or take time out to walk among them and see the 3m metal daffodil sculpture by Raymond Herber. Other highlights in the Gardens this month include the fragrant garden next to Cunningham House, the alpine plants in Foweraker House and an abundance of spring blossom.
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