South Island Branch SOLGM AGM
Friday 28 July 2006
Good Morning. It’s a pleasure to be here today and to welcome you to Christchurch. It’s going to be a big weekend in the city as we celebrate our 150th birthday and I hope that some of you can join in the festivities over the next two days.
This city was founded in Christian values. Edward Gibbon Wakefield’s believed capital should buy the land and the proceeds should be used for public amenities. He connected his head to his heart.
The city has continued the custom of connecting its head to its heart. We were the first to provide affordable public housing and the first to provide a public works programme.
The call for submissions to our Long Term Council Community Plan led to a great public response. There was one item that stood out, and that was libraries. This was a real heart connecting with the head issue. The head was saying there are financial and demographic reasons for closing some libraries but the heart, the people, told us they wanted to keep them. Libraries are a focal point of the urban village. They are an important meeting place. A place for community.
What came through very clearly was the love of Christchurch people for their parks and gardens and Council has responded, among other things, by making the revitalisation of the Botanic Gardens a top priority.
Another highlight was the inclusion of Banks Peninsula as part of the city for the first time.
Our LTCCP process received huge numbers of submissions, and they were not about decreasing rates but about increasing services. A long hard look needs to be taken on how local government is funded. Property based rates are onerous on ratepayers.
There’s a story about the family having lunch in a restaurant when their son starts to choke. The family panics, and a nearby diner comes over and proceeds to clear the boy’s windpipe with the Heimlich manoeuvre. The parents thank the rescuer profusely. He’s very laid back about the whole thing and says, “No problem, I work for the Inland Revenue. I make people cough up all the time”.
Isn’t it time that central government coughed up a bit more to local government, especially as it continues to impose increased services and standards on a whole raft of things.
The Long Term Council Community Plans are for ten years, hence I think we need to be looking out 20 and 30 years. We need to be planning for a time when the cost of petrol doubles or triples in price. This has huge implications for where people live, play and work.
The Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy is the driving force for future planning. The public have told us they don’t want urban sprawl. A city with a revitalised CBD and 30,000 living working and playing there. The public want a sustainable city. A city that meets the requirements of the present without compromising the needs of future generations.
I have always believed that Local Government is where the action is. The decisions we take can make a difference to our community, we can make it more beautiful, safer and healthier. What can beat that?
For many of you this has been a bruising year. The year of the Long Term Council Community Plan. I thought the Christchurch City Council staff did a stupendous job getting our LTCCP plan together and providing the data and information needed for Council to make the right decisions and I would like to congratulate them once more on their effort.
Best wishes for your conference. |
