Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy road show begins

21 April 2005

The Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy Road Show has hit the streets with its first appearance in the central city at the City Mall today, then Hornby Mall tomorrow and Saturday.

This follows the launch at a Mayoral Discussion on Tuesday of the four options being considered by Christchurch territorial authorities for dealing with growth in Greater Christchurch.
 
Journalist Kris Herbert will be driving a new Honda Civic petrol-electric hybrid car with the Greater Christchurch UDS markings to transport display material to set up in popular meeting places throughout Greater Christchurch to talk to members of the public during the next eight weeks.

The aim is to stimulate discussion about the strategy and get public feedback on four options out for public consultation for the Greater Christchurch Urban Development Strategy until 3 June, when consultation closes.

Honda Cars General Manager Paul White observes that every time he visits Auckland and spends an hour in peak traffic on the way to the central city, he is reminded of how important it is to plan ahead to conserve Christchurch’s lifestyle.
 
“Rising oil prices means more communities will also have to plan for sustainability and the Strategy is a logical step in that direction. The hybrid electric-petrol Honda Civic is part of Honda’s environmental and safety-minded plans for the future, so making it available to promote the urban development strategy was pretty logical,” Mr White says.

In 30 to 40 years time, it is estimated that another 120,000 people will have moved into the Greater Christchurch area. Where they live, work and go to school, will be major issues for territorial authorities and, if they all want to drive cars, will this bring traffic to a standstill?

These are the type of issues that the Waimakariri, Selwyn, and Banks Peninsula district councils, the City Council, Environment Canterbury, and Transit New Zealand have decided to plan a strategy for together. People have until 3 June to feed back their views on the options considered by:

• filling out the Options document, available from any council office in Waimakariri, Banks Peninsula or Selwyn, any Christchurch City Council service centre or library, or from the Environment Canterbury office.
• visiting the www.greaterchristchurch.org.nz website or
• ph 0800 872 338 for assistance.

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