Mayor Garry Moore, speech to Council, Finalisation of LTCCP

Friday 30 June 2006

Good morning…

As we see the finish line ahead I want to sum up where we have been, and where we are heading.

Firstly, a huge thank you to the public, Council staff, Councillors and Community Board members.

It is easy to forget that such an epic production is the sum total of the efforts of many people.

Council staff are the unsung heroes of this process.  Many of them have shouldered gruelling workloads this year.

There have been many weekends, family events, social commitments and leisure hours sacrificed on the demanding altar of the LTCCP.

To Lesley McTurk and her team, who have performed above and beyond the call of duty - thank you.

The quality of the data you have put together has made this a whole lot easier than it could have been.

To my colleagues around this table, my thanks for showing a cohesive and attentive face to proceedings -  which has surprised not just our critics, but also ourselves.

If it had been suggested earlier that we would survive long periods of sleep deprivation, public exposure and each others’ company so well, very few of us would have believed it.

For your patience and your commitment to see it through and make sense of it, thank you.

The public have been the third set of stars in this, our second LTCCP.

Yes, the clarion call of possibly closing libraries and pools may have driven some of them forward, but it does not explain all of it.

We have listened to those who thought we were on the wrong track and we have been awed by the commitment of our citizens to the overall health of Christchurch.

We owe the public, and their over 2000 submissions, a huge debt of gratitude.

It has been the public that has put the capital D back into active democracy in this city.

The public gave us more than a reminder of how deeply so many people care about their city.  They have also given a very human face to what I believe is the true nature of Christchurch.

Christchurch’s good name rests not on our buildings, our sophistication, or our wealth.  Our name has been built on the firm foundation of our humanity toward one another.

It is a quality of goodness and social cohesion that we take for granted. 

We should not. 

Not all places enjoy this same sense of active community and concern.

This quality of active humanity can and should be refined as time goes on. 

This is why that, while we clear our corporate head, our heart must not be forgotten.

We must continue to ensure that this institution’s head and heart are well connected with each other.

We have a proud record of social conscience. 

Housing, parks and recreation, festivals, sport -  when it’s all added together - provides our robust sense of community.

In a customised world where every cell phone has its own ring tone, preserving this sense of shared lives is no mean feat.

The LTCCP is a big win for democracy and for Christchurch.

So too is the likely rates rise that has emerged from this white hot furnace of wants. 

This fine, fine balancing act between the fact that everybody wants something, but nobody wants to pay for it,  is the tragic-comic core of local body politics. 

In that context I think we have done very, very well.

Any doubters should look North toward Auckland and their 13 per cent-plus rise to see how others have to meet similar challenges.

Today I’m adding The Press to my list of thanks.  I’m referring specifically to the superb piece they ran in their Weekend section, on infrastructure in New Zealand.

It’s a big, ugly word – infrastructure.  Along with growth, infrastructure lurks behind some of the many pressures on this Council and many other Councils.

The New Zealand Herald has made it plain that paying for growth and deferred infrastructure spending lies behind the big rate hikes in Auckland.

Here in New Zealand’s second largest city, growth and infrastructure are major forces driving up our spend on the basics.

Even “business as usual” means that we have to deal with a much bigger list of “things to do” to meet the increased demands of a growing city.

Consider some of the facts.

Since 2001 our roading network has increased by 51 kilometres.

Our parks and open spaces are increasing by 80 hectares a year for regional parks and 8 hectares a year for urban parks.

Then there are the basics, like water and sewerage and the additional impact of new housing on our systems.

We have in fact, gone back to basics while having to accept that those basics are bigger and hungrier than in the past.

I believe we have come up with a very good plan that meets the needs of a growing city.

What makes me very proud today is that as we have gone back to basics we have held onto our most basic quality of all …. our commitment to each other.

We all have our own pet barrows but I think this time we have learnt a lot about some key areas.

What we have heard is that we need to sharpen our focus on a number of areas.

We must put a special focus on what our ratepayers have asked us to emphasise.   Our whole attention must be on Christchurch being a sustainable city.

1.    We need to better co-ordinate with the central city revival and renewal.   We need to put together a tight plan to knit together all the great ideas for the inner city and make sure that all the goodwill and energy is lined up in the same direction.

We have put money aside for this process.

2.    Our city’s natural environment is one of our great assets.   We heard from many environmental groups and individuals who told us to not just maintain our natural environment, but to enrich it. 

I fully support this pressure for a stronger environmental focus, and in doing this we must remember that we now extend from McLeans Island to the Akaroa Heads.

Our work already underway on waste and water needs to include this very lucid call for enhanced respect for our natural gifts.   We also need to develop an energy strategy for our city.

3.   The strong comeback of the Garden City concept.

We were told firmly that this is the world’s best Garden City and we need to make sure this remains the world’s best Garden City.

When you line this up with the equal fervour to make the Botanic Gardens again world class, you have a public demand that must be met. 

We have increased the Garden City budget.  The next step is to harvest the public goodwill and energy into a clear and “do-able” plan.

4.   Housing is one of the areas where Christchurch has excelled.   We kept our public housing when the idea was out of favour elsewhere.  What we heard loud and clear is that people want us to expand on what we have.   We need to find partners to help us meet this aim.

5.   Central government:   We heard from many people that they would like us to move into areas traditionally the responsibility of central government.

We need to forge better ties with government departments and agencies.   We also need to refine our arm twisting and advocating skills.

I take this as a call to take our city’s requests for more resources to Wellington, and speak with a louder voice than I have in the past.

I will do this.

6.   The small libraries strategy.    We heard loudest of all that people want their small libraries.   They want more than this.   They want us to broker a more active sense of community.

Against the backdrop of rising fuel and energy costs this plea makes great sense.

We need to build on the idea of making this a “city of villages”.

The public have told us firmly that they want a sense of safety and smaller scale back in their lives.   This must be driven by the Community Boards.   They must ask the question:  where are our villages? …..  And how can we reinforce them?

7.   Community Grants:    We have a much clearer insight into how we should move ahead on reviewing our grants process.

Public money is money held in trust.   We need to repay that trust with a grants system that makes the best possible use of that money and achieve the outcomes which our ratepayers say they want.

As we head toward the finish line today I am sure we have all learnt a lot more about our city, and ourselves.

Getting to this point has raised some clear signals about where we should be going.

After today the immediate focus should be to have a rest!

After we have rested, we can get back to work with a clear direction in mind.

Once again to all of you, thank you for your role in this shared journey toward out city’s future.