Shirley-Papanui Community Board 1989-2010 - Christchurch City ...

Key Achievements 1992 – 1995
A Library And Service Centre “Befitting Papanui’s Image” (Mayor)
including the rugby clubrooms on Westminster Street and the boardroom
at Foodstuffs. It also made it easier for people to come along and
speak to the board and we did notice a slight increase in the number
of deputations to meetings,” said Barbara Ford, who was community
manager at the time.
A bequest from local businessman Leonard Rathgen aided the
development of the building. He left $47,000 in the Len and Peggie
Rathgen Memorial Trust when he died in 1980, stipulating this money
was to be used for the building of a library in the Papanui area.
Queen Elizabeth II Drive – The Opening Of An Iconic Road
This term also saw the opening of what is still one of Christchurch’s
most well-used roads - Queen Elizabeth II Drive, from Main North to
Marshland Roads.
The opening was a major affair with speeches held outside St Bede’s
College and then a convoy of cars testing the road for the first time.
“The community really was excited – it was a huge thing. People knew
we were going to be able to move around the city much more easily,”
remembers Sally Thompson.
Working With Schools
When then Northcote School Principal Graeme Barber approached the
Community Board in 1994 for funding for a new playground, the Board
came up with an innovative solution – they would grant funding provided
the whole community could have access to the space.
This was the beginning of a move towards “boundary-less” schools –
the idea that schools were a community asset that should be open to
the public once classes were over. The idea was popular not only with
the Council, as it meant greater recreational space for its constituents,
but with the schools themselves.
Saturday the 11th of February 1995 was a pretty big day for an 8-yearold
Papanui boy. Edward Brown was given the job of cutting the ribbon
alongside Christchurch Mayor Vicki Buck at the opening of the new
Papanui Library and Service Centre.
Sited on the corner of Langdons Road and Restell Street, the new facility
had been years in the planning. Council staff had been searching for a
site for a new library since the 1980s. A site had been found in the 1970s
but the Council had deemed the project too expensive at that time, and
the Papanui Library had remained in temporary premises.
The new library and service centre was an impressive development.
Designed by architects Willis and Associates, it was the first combined
service centre and library in Christchurch, and scores of locals attended
its opening. The library’s floor area was three times that of the old
premises and opened with a collection of 40,000 books.
The opening was a big celebration. Mayor Vicki Buck took a prominent
role but gave schoolboy Edward Brown the honour of cutting the ribbon.
The city’s Town Crier, resplendent in a red and black outfit, rang a school
bell to start proceedings and introduced all the speakers.
Chair of the board Sally Thompson lauded the arrival of the library,
likening the search for a site to a cuckoo looking for a nest. “This day
has been a long time coming,” she said.
Sally Thompson now remembers the centre quickly becoming
a popular destination.
“It gave us a home and gave people somewhere they could go to access
council services. The staff at that centre were incredible – they had an
awesome knowledge of the community, its geography and identities.”
“There was some confusion from the public over some politicians’
support for the road. People couldn’t understand why we were so in
favour of this project when we had fought the northern arterial. But this
was different – it was built on farmland, no one lost their home and no
suburb was split in two,” said Sally Thompson.
“I remember it became a well-used road almost immediately. The next
morning it was flooded with cars and I remember thinking “Wow – there
was clearly a need for that road,” said Yvonne Palmer, board member.
“The goal was a seamless connection between the school and the
community, and from our point of view it was win-win,” said Barber.
“The school would get natural surveillance, and the community would
get the use of facilities.”
It was also the start of a long and mutually beneficial relationship
between the Board, Northcote School, and the wider community, which
saw an access way being funded by the Board so the public could get to
Redwood Park from Tuckers Road without tramping on the ‘sometimes
muddy’ school fields.
Soon, other school principals were following the lead – coming to
meetings and sharing problems and developing solutions together. This
resulted in many community projects, including a new cycle way into
Shirley Intermediate.
“The community development approach of the Board was really good,”
said Barber. “There was an emphasis on looking at family and community
well-being as opposed to just building things.”
Work between the Community Board and St Albans and Paparoa Street
Schools also saw them leave their gates open and that had an excellent
side effect - a drop in vandalism.
“Both the service centre and the library had been in temporary premises
for years and this finally gave them a permanent home. It was a real
boost for the Board too. The fact they had their own boardroom to meet
in gave them a real focus. Until then they’d met in all sorts of spaces –
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