The Star: August 16, 2018

20 Thursday August 16 2018
Latest Christchurch news at www.star.kiwi
The Star
Opinion
•Watch the debate over a water sports
facility on www.star.kiwi
Previous bid to create water sport facility
Last week
The Star
aired the
contentious
issue
over why
Christchurch
needs an international
flat water facility. Today
businessman and
rowing identity James
Sheehan turns back the
pages
IN THE year 2000 The Lake
Isaac Trust was formed to build a
purpose-built water sports park
suitable for not just rowing but
numerous other sports on land
valued at $4 million.
The land had been gifted to the
trust by Lady Diana Isaac and her
Conservation Trust.
The city council backed the
then $33 million dollar project
with a planned $11 million
contribution from its Long Term
Plan.
Without going into lengthy
THIS PAST Friday night,
Cantabrians were treated to
the All Blacks playing in our
city again as the Game of Three
Halves event saw them taking on
both Canterbury and Otago.
With the loss of All Blacks tests
over the last few years due to a
lack of venues, it was wonderful
to see the black jersey being worn
on the field in the home of rugby
again.
Before the game, I was
lucky enough to welcome
three of the players, Ardie
Savea, Scott Barrett and Jack
Goodhue to Hillmorton High
for a school assembly and a skills
session with some keen young
players.
While obviously just getting to
meet the All Blacks was going to
be a highlight for the students,
the question and answer session
detail the project was stopped by
Mayor Garry Moore and certain
councillors along with Christchurch
International Airport who
said it could not be done due to
bird strike issues.
The airport raised issues like
attracting more people to the
area, which would increase the
likelihood of rubbish, traffic
issues on Johns Rd, the dump at
Waimairi and obviously a large
body of water near the airport.
Oh, how we forget as a city and
now 18 years on and still nothing
of a water sports facility.
However, we do have an
expanded airport shopping
facility attracting people to the
area, quarrying and large pits in
the same area that the trust was
going to develop, a new Johns Rd
which includes and underground
cycleway (as proposed by the
Lake Isaac Trust) to relieve traffic
and people around the area and a
dump that is now closed at Waimairi
therefore the birds do not
fly from the river over the airport
to a previous feeding ground.
This city council would rather
spend money on cycleways that
Politics
Megan Woods
they held at the assembly absolutely
blew me away.
Ardie Savea spoke about the
struggles he had reading at
school and now how important
reading is to him now. The look
on the young people’s faces to see
someone they admire so much
talking about such a personal issue
and how he overcame it were
amazing. It was a really touching
moment and a great reminder
of why Kiwis look up to the All
Blacks so much.
This whole event was a great
reminder of why the city is
PLANS: In 2000 James Sheehan founded the Lake Isaac
Trust in a bid to get a flat water facility, like the East Lake
(above) established in the city. ​
are under-utilised than get in
behind a project that would see
2000-plus athletic people including
school children utilising the
venue each and every week.
We are not just talking about
the sport of rowing but many
other recreational uses.
Also rowing is not just a sport
for elite children.
Tell that to the parents of the
many boys at Shirley Boys’ High
School who in recent years have
met with great success, or the
looking forward to our new
stadium. The Government put
$300 million on the table in this
year’s Budget to help make it
happen, and now the city council
has brought its funding forward
as well. The next step is getting
a business case worked up and
we’re on good track to see progress
soon.
I know all of Christchurch,
and especially our young people,
will be looking forward to the
day we can see the All Blacks run
out on to the field for their next
Christchurch test match.
parents of the kids from Cashmere
High School who make
their way by bike to Kerrs Reach.
Sport is for everyone.
We have an epidemic of diabetes
and obesity but what do we do
to solve the issue?
Have a talkfest and bring up
the reasons (like previous city
councils which had the opportunity)
to say why we can’t instead
of why we can.
The Christchurch sporting
community has not had a
“sports” voice on the city council
since the passing of the great
Graham Condon.
We could have had a lake years
ago and held the 2010 world rowing
championships (that went to
Karapiro) which was the aim of
the trust at that time.
But what have we got today . . .
nowhere.
Still a dirty open sewer called
the Avon River with non-maintained
unsafe banks, a river full
of weed (not adequately dredged
since the days of the Christchurch
Drainage Board bucket
dredges).
One can only assume that the
city managers are quite happy sitting
on their hands waiting for a
major incident to occur between
all of the varied river uses on an
overcrowded unsafe Kerrs Reach,
so then they can implement their
health and safety policy and put
some orange cones out to divert
users elsewhere. Oh that’s right,
there is no elsewhere, 18 years on.
That’s just water sports issues
in the city, shall we talk about a
stadium?
All Blacks visit a reminder of how much we need a stadium
BIG MOMENT: Hillmorton High School student Isley Fakalata
gets a photo with All Blacks loose forward Ardie Savea when
three members of the team visited the school last week.
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