George Heard/Stuff
Environment Canterbury s long-term plan will be open for public consultation from next month. (File photo) At a meeting on Thursday, regional councillors voted to send the plan out for public consultation, which will begin next month. All 14 councillors, along with two Ngāi Tahu representatives, gave speeches outlining their views on the proposals. Cr Peter Scott, also the deputy chair, said residents were surprised by the headline numbers and a majority were angry and annoyed. But the changes were just proposals and “a lot of water [has] got to go under the bridge” before final decisions were made, he said. He urged residents with concerns to get in touch with him.
Locals stopped traffic on State Highway 1 last year to protest inaction on a bypass for Woodend. “I’m disappointed it only made an inclusion in this plan as an ‘on the horizon’ project.” Woodend was split in half by State Highway 1, and traffic volumes had increased 20 per cent over the past two years, he said. About 20,000 cars now drove through the town each day, leaving locals with serious safety concerns. “While interim safety improvements will help, it’s not going to solve the problem.” Gordon said the council would make a submission on the plan.
Joe Johnson/Stuff
Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon at a 2020 rally for a bypass that would take SH1 around Woodend.
Thursday, 21 January 2021, 10:58 am
Environment Canterbury is offering another week of free
travel on its new direct bus services from Waimakariri to
central Christchurch.
Transport portfolio lead
Councillor Phil Clearwater said that more people are
returning to work next week and eager to try out the new 91
Rangiora – City direct and 92
Kaiapoi – City direct bus services.
“We’ve
had excellent feedback from the community, with people
particularly enjoying the extra ‘me time’ gained on
their journey to and from the city.
“We know that
many are still in different routines at this time of year,
so we’re taking the opportunity to extend our free travel
“People who are back at work from 11 January onwards can take this great opportunity to try the new services out for free for a couple of weeks, to see if the bus works for them,’’ he said. “We are really happy to be able to offer this period of free travel to support the new services getting off to a strong start.” The new direct routes were created in response to public feedback on public transport last year. The buses will use the new T2 lanes on the Christchurch Northern Motorway, and the dedicated bus lanes on Cranford St, but can use other routes depending on traffic.