5 October 1998

The Draft Bottle Lake Forest Park Management Plan will be available for public comment from Monday 21 September until Friday 20 November 1998. Plans can be obtained from City Council service centres, Bottle Lake Forest Park headquarters and the Civic offices in Tuam Street. Copies may also be viewed at public libraries.

The Plan’s cornerstone is its multi-use strategy. A zoning system adapted for the Park will become a major mechanism for managing the wide variety of Park users. All present and future park uses fall into two main categories: forestry and recreation.

The plan was prepared after analysing over 50 submissions expressing ideas and opinions regarding the Park’s future. One of the management priorities, expressed in many of the submissions, will be to retain much of the wilderness nature of the forests.

Future developments will be staged to complement adjacent subdivision and district park construction. The headquarters area will include a visitors centre and arboretum. The Rothesay Recreation Corridor will function as an amenity access route to other areas of the park and access for local residents with picnic areas and future sports parks incorporated. A coastal ecological corridor will provide opportunities for more passive recreation.

The site currently occupied by the Burwood landfill will be closed in 2002 and converted to a multiple use park to include mountain bike tracks, horse trails, native plantings and picnic areas. The Park will provide a unique vantage point from which to view the City, Port Hills, Southern Alps, Pegasus Bay and the surrounding Forest Park. Tracks and contours will be designed to allow sympathetic integration into the adjacent plantation areas.

"The Forest Park is under utilised at present but will provide enormous scope for absorbing and indeed encouraging the greater numbers of users inherent in a climate of increasing active outdoor recreation and growing population. Future developments and management techniques outlined in this document will allow the co-ordinated use of the Park by a greater number of diverse users", said Eric Banks, Parks Planner for the Christchurch City Council.

For further information contact:

Eric Banks 03 941 8688 or

Chris Freeman 03 941 8638,

Parks Unit, Christchurch City Council.

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