Selwyn Times: February 21, 2017

SELWYN TIMES Tuesday February 21 2017 3
News
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ON THE DOMAIN LINCOLN 4 March 2017
Concern over future
nine bands.
use of Weedons motel site
• By Tom Doudney
A FORMER motel’s planned
transformation into social
housing has Weedons residents
feeling uneasy.
The Salvation Army plans to
use the former Blue Gum Lodge
Motel, on State Highway 1 north
of Rolleston, to accommodate
people on the Ministry of Social
Development’s social housing
register.
An anonymous flyer recently
distributed to Weedons residents
had suggested the motel
was going to be used as a halfway
house for recently-released
prisoners. Salvation Army social
housing national director Greg
Foster said this was false but
an administrative office for its
post-prison reintegration service
would also be based on the site.
The motel closed in August
2015 because some of its land
was needed for the Southern
Motorway extension. It was
bought by the New Zealand
Transport Authority which is in
discussions with the Salvation
Army on a contract to lease the
property.
In spite of the assurances that
CLOSED: The Blue Gum Lodge Motel was sold to the New
Zealand Transport Authority because it was needed for the
Southern Motorway extension.
Greg Foster Gary Doyle
it wouldn’t be a halfway house,
locals who spoke to the Selwyn
Times were still uneasy about
the prospect of social housing
on the site.
Weedons resident Gary Doyle
said he wanted more information
about plans for the site and
what sort of tenants would be
housed there.
“Some of the people they get
in some of their houses have
an interesting background,” he
said.
Another Weedons resident,
who declined to be named, said
he also had questions about
what type of tenants would be
accommodated.
“Are they getting put out here
because they are not suitable for
elsewhere or is it just simply because
of the housing shortage?”
He was concerned about a potential
increase in crime in the
one day.
www.selwynsounds.co.nz
area and also whether opening
social housing, in conjunction
with increased commercial
development in the area, would
have an effect on residents’
house values.
Mr Foster said the Salvation
Army hoped to provide housing
on the site as soon as negotiations
were complete, expected
to be some time in the next few
months.
“We started consultation with
the Selwyn District Council and
with the Selwyn Community
Care Network in November and
discussions with both are ongoing,”
he said.
The initial plan was to house
seven single people in the available
units. There would be a
manager on site 24 hours a day.
Salvation Army Corps Officer
Lieutenant Nathan Holt would
also be visiting the site regularly
to support tenants.
“He’s happy to talk to anyone
in the community who has further
questions,” Mr Foster said.
•HAVE YOUR SAY: What do
you think about the former
Blue Gum Lodge Motel being
used for social housing?
Live in Lincoln
In Brief
ALLEGED SHOPLIFTER
Keen observation by shop staff
and quick action by police resulted
in an alleged serial shoplifter
being arrested at The Warehouse
Rolleston on Thursday. A staff
member at nearby Rolleston
Hammer Hardware observed a
woman acting suspiciously in
the store before heading towards
The Warehouse and called
police. Police and security at The
Warehouse used security cameras
to observe the woman allegedly
smuggle clothing out of the store
and she was apprehended just
outside. The Christchurch woman,
43, has been charged with this and
three other instances of alleged
shoplifting at The Warehouse
Eastgate between December and
this month. She will appear in
court on March 31.
SWIMMABLE SELWYN
A workshop to progress a campaign
to make the Selwyn River
swimmable again at Coes Ford will
be held at the Lincoln Event Centre
at 4pm tomorrow. The Selwyn
Waihora Zone Committee agreed
to take on the Swimmable Selwyn
@ Coes Ford campaign last year.
The purpose of this workshop is to
identify what is already being done
to improve the river at Coes Ford.
A couple of Hearing HEAR
S
Dawn and George Prattley are my HEARING
HEARO’s!! They are such a wonderful couple.
I loved meeting them and helping them hear
better. The lovely part about audiology is
that when someone chooses to come into
the clinic, that is just the beginning of a long
relationship. Hearing changes over time and
I am happy that our paths will continue to
cross for years to come.
Dawn had been having complications from
Meniere’s Disease effecting her right ear
since 2013. The condition worsened and
in January last year her specialist
needed to do a intratympanic
Gentamycin injection into
her right ear drum. While
this would help Dawn in
many ways, the downside of
this treatment was that
she would be deaf in
that ear. He warned
her that hearing
aids would be highly
unlikely to assist her.
“In May, my GP suggested that I go and see
Brenna, to have a hearing test and get her
opinion and advice,” says Dawn. “After the
testing, Brenna put some hearing aids in and
tuned them to my hearing (or lack thereof).”
“Instantly I noticed the difference to the
sounds I was hearing. I left Brenna’s clinic
that day knowing that hearing aids would
help me. That was a great feeling!”
“I thought about it for a week and then said
to my husband George that is was no use
me getting my hearing sorted if he didn’t….
because he would still need to turn the TV
up too loud if he didn’t get hearing aids too!
George agreed and now we are both wired for
sound.”
“Brenna is lovely, gentle and patient. She answered
all of our questions and did not push
us into buying hearing aids. It was such a positive
experience.” “If you have hearing aids in
a draw and don’t wear them or you need a
Brenna Sincock Hearing
Branding / Appropriate Usage
PRINT
36 Tennyson Street, Rolleston | Darfield | Leeston | Lincoln
hearing test, I would highly recommend that
you go and see Brenna!”
“Now I can hear birds singing and it is so
much easier to simply have a conversation,”
says Dawn. “
LOVE YOUR HEARING
For truly local and personal
audiology care
Call 03 390 2332 today
Jon Griffiths
jon@heartlandprint.co.nz