Belfast Area Plan - Urban Design Study - Christchurch City Council

7.0 ADDRESSING THE
ISSUES
7.1. Community Identity
The Area Development Plan offers the
opportunity to introduce measures
designed to retain and strengthen the
sense of community identity enjoyed by
the Belfast community.
Currently Belfast is physically separate
from the rest of Christchurch. It is
surrounded by rural land to the north, east
and west. To the south is a ‘green gap’
that separates Belfast from the urban
area. The free-standing nature of Belfast
contributes to its recognition as a place.
With the urbanisation of rural land it is
likely that Belfast will become physically
attached to the rest of Christchurch, to the
south and west. It will therefore be
important to retain some sense of
separateness through other means.
7.1.1. Sense of arrival and departure
When travelling into Belfast from the south
the Styx overbridge and then a stretch of
road with greenery on both sides, provides
a real sense of leaving Redwood and the
rest of the city and travelling to another
place. The point of arrival in Belfast is at
the traffic lights at Radcliffe Road – where
there is a clear and abrupt change to
urban development with the entrance to
Northwood and supermarket on the left
and the bulky, busy, colourful Belfast
Supa-centa on the right. Although the
Northwood subdivision begins some
distance before this gateway, it is
screened by a solid shelter belt and does
not read as urban from the road. A
‘Belfast’ road sign is located on the berm
about midway between Styx Mill Road and
Northward Boulevard.
Approaching Belfast from the south
In order to maintain this sense of arrival
(and sense of departure when travelling in
the other direction) it is important to
safeguard this green corridor in some
form. While it is likely that, the northern
part of the land to the east will be
developed at some stage, it would be
possible to retain the illusion of a rural gap
between Redwood and Belfast by
ensuring that any development on the site
were screened from the road by dense
planting, including the retention of the
existing shelter belt. Housing at the
southern end of Northwood close to Styx
Mill Road is currently visible and needs to
be screened. There is some new planting
which should serve this purpose.
Arriving in Belfast from the north
Crossing the Waimakariri River signals the
beginning of Christchurch, when travelling
from the north. Some distance is travelled
along the green corridor of the motorway
before the start of the built-up area of
Belfast, marking arrival in the city. This is
confirmed by the Christchurch entry sign,
located opposite the Belfast Tavern.
Belfast, is not identified as a separate
entity, there being no indication that the
township of Belfast has been reached. The
start to the city and Belfast is poorly
defined at this point with ribbon
development on the western side of the
road and open rural land to the east.
When travelling in the opposite direction,
the urban area peters out and a view of
mature trees in the central reservation and
rural land to the north and east provides
an open vista, in contrast to the confined
space of the urban area. A more clearly
defined start to the city could be created
when development occurs on the eastern
side of Main North Road. The Christchurch
sign could be relocated further north and a
Belfast sign placed where the Christchurch
sign currently stands.
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